Chapter 1: Tutorial: Stranger in a Strange Land
Chapter Text
Our protagonist, ladies and gentlemen. She’s aware enough of the lore to be a fun player, but not insanely so that she will ruin everything.
Shut it N̷̩̮̍̈̎̿͝a̸̡̗̜̓b̷̨̘̋͆͝e̶̡͎̩̩̒̒͘r̴͎̝͐̾͝ͅí̵̡̧̢̘̏u̴̢̮̻̰͎͊s̶̹̦̞͖̗͗. Be serious. Is she the one?
She’s the perfect candidate. If we rewind her just a bit, set her up in a place with loads of potential . . . and danger. It will be a true blow to the Ḣ̶̛͓͔͉̭̬̩̪̉̔̈́̈́ḛ̵͉̙̼̒̒͗̅̈́̇͗̅͂̓̚ȧ̵̧͎̰̤͉̻͖̃̀̀͊̚v̵̡̦̻̗̯̞̤̈́̆̈͜è̶̙̬̹̠̭̟͆ͅͅń̷͎̖̠͈͚̈́̀̐͑̍̇̕͝l̶̢̜̭͎̺̘̳̠͉͌̊̿̃̂̈́̏̽y̵̢̹͕͓̞̟̭͎̞͑͐͗͗̎̚ͅ ̷̱͕̯̽͝P̵̨̠͉̳̈́ŗ̴͔͚̿͝i̶̬̝͛̐̽̒̅̃̆̕͝ṉ̴̡̨̨͚̳͓͙̎̂̀͆̇̿͌́̚ͅc̷̙̦͛̓i̶̡͇̟̪͂͊̄͋̈́̽̾͊̈́͘p̷̛̺͌͗̃̈́̚l̷̢͗̌̓̓͆̽͂͘͝e̸̮̥͕͒͑̒́̎͆͛̋̿͝͠s̴̡̛͖͚͊́̔͛̿͗͒͒͝’s fragile, overblown egos. We can even contact the gods they wronged, the S̶̮̊̈́̑͛͑ë̵͕̼͎̭́v̸̙̈́̒̆̇̚é̶̞̗̯̦͋̐̍͠n̷̹̦̐ ̴̠̣̳̓Ş̵̦̤̀̿̄̃̚ö̸͎̠́ͅv̵̘̎̾͊͆̐e̴̮͕̟̎̌r̷̳͓̈́̚̕̕͠e̵͙͖͐ȋ̷̞̅̄̋g̶͎̏̾͠n̸̬͔̰̲̆̑͘s̵͍̱̳͙͌̎̈̚̚, all of them. Oh, I can see it now! This will truly be glorious.
Send her, then. Send her and grant her a gift from me, as you will no doubt do for yourself. I want to see the look on the H̷̹̦͉̍̈́͠͝ͅē̶̫a̴̪̗̾͒̑̌v̵̨̥̮͗̓͑͝ẹ̵̳̲͓̔n̸̥͓͖͋̔̅̕ͅl̴̡̧͝ý̶̠̼̣̔̚ ̵͙̗̆͊́P̵͈̦͗͝r̵̲̞̜͊̇͜͝ḭ̵̡̣̈́̓̿̿ͅn̵̲̘̟̺̑̂̊̈́c̷͚̫̋̈́̿͘ỉ̸̧̩͙̫͑̀p̸̯̓͐̑̑l̶̙̻̇̌ȩ̷̡̪̣́͊̋s̵͎̮̒͘̚͜’ stupid face when she takes their plans down one step at a time.
~~~~
When she awoke, the girl had no idea where she was. She hadn’t been in the desert three minutes ago, or three hours ago. The last thing she remembered was . . . wait, why couldn’t she remember? She was I̷̡̪͉̋̒̿̚ŕ̶̹̟̅͒̌͠i̶̖̇̉͆́̇s̴̝͚̏̃ from V̸̫̬̺͕̝̔̚ḭ̶̈́̂͐̆c̶̡̧̦̖̩̏͒͛t̷̪͓͘͝o̴͚̱̭̥̅͠ŕ̷̝̆̽͠i̶̦̅̓̽͜a̵͈̞̝̳͇̓̃.
No . . . she couldn’t remember. She had no name.
The heat beat down on her skin, the golden sand radiating back whatever heat didn’t hit her from the sky. Everything boiled with an intensity she had been unfamiliar with until this very moment. She was lost here, amidst the mystery of her situation, amidst the winds blowing across dunes of sand.
Standing, she turned her gaze forward, towards the cacti growing despite the sand and the massive pillars and boulders of orange-red rock looming above her like strange, striped skyscrapers. From the tallest of these rocks, it seemed sand fell down towards the earth hundreds of feet below, waterfalls made in the absence of water itself. In this strange, empty terrain, she’d never felt so far from her home.
No. Not empty.
There, in the shade of one of the rocks, in an archway carved by some long-ago force of nature, were these little bouncy hat-things. Blue tops pointed like witches’ hats and on the bottom, these tiny white heads. Strangely, these were familiar creatures to her, although she had never seen any of them look so lifelike before.
Just don’t get their attention.
She turned the other way, determined to walk some time so she wouldn’t be noticed by those . . . mushrooms. She didn’t want to discover how real they truly were.
So she turned, finding a deep valley extending in front of her, surrounded by more of those rocky cliffs. In the sand dunes ahead, she could see half-destroyed stone ruins of some long ago buildings, and beyond them-
“Oh. Oh no.”
She recognized that massive pyramid, with its gilded edges and strange, middle piece floating between the anchored pyramid and the inverted one floating high up in the air. A massive sandstorm—she thought it was a sandstorm—extended from the inverted pyramid to the skies around it, casting dark shadows that reached over much of the sandy valley.
“That’s . . . that’s the pyramid-” she glanced behind her. “-and those mushrooms—oh. No no no no no. Where’s my phone? Where?” She began to frantically search her pockets for her phone, but found it nowhere. “No no no no no no no I can’t be isekai’d into a video game right now-”
With a musical ping , a little golden tab appeared in front of her.
NEW QUEST
Stranger in a Strange Land
Find and meet people to take you out of this desert before you die.
She tried poking the screen, but her hand went right through it, like it wasn’t even there in the first place. The objective taunted her—find and meet people before you die.
Die.
Die.
Die die die die die.
It didn’t really feel like death was an option right now. She was pretty sure that whatever had happened to her before she got here was death, and that whatever awaited her next was just another hallucination. But, given that she had no choice, she decided to start to wander in the shade of those rocky cliffs, until she came across something that was rather . . . bad.
A group of people clad in all sorts of browns and beiges, save for the red bandanas around necks and the matching sashes around their waists. She recognized them from the game—Eremites. They were packing up things into crates and seemed rather determined to escape as quickly as they could. Something dangerous to them was coming.
And she had just walked directly into what would soon be a deserted encampment. Oh. Oh no.
She backed away, tripping over her feet in her clumsy attempt to turn around and run the other way, but the sudden call of a man froze every bone in her body. Run hide run hide run— something grabbed the back of her shirt, stopping any hope of moving farther away.
Oops, she took too long to decide. The person who picked her up was at least a foot, if not two feet, taller than her, and considerably more muscular. He turned her towards his face, staring down at her with eyes that threatened to do very bad things to her. She didn’t want to consider the possibilities of such a giant harming her.
“Uh, hi?” she said.
The bald man stared at her and said something. Something she didn’t understand. Another language. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. She hadn’t realised that they might not speak the same language as her. Oh, this was bad. Very bad. She got a quest screen to help but not the language of this place. That was a stupid decision by whomever brought her here.
“Could you maybe put me down?” she asked as nicely as she could.
Bald Guy turned away from her to yell at someone further down—a woman with grey hair that appeared to be in charge of the efforts to move everything away from this camp. Boss Bitch apparently sized up the girl from afar and decided that she was acceptable, yelling an order that had Bald Guy bringing her towards one of the stacks of crates. He twisted her hands behind her back, bringing rope up so he could tie her hands together.
Nope.
To stop this, she kicked Bald Guy in the groin, which sadly only led to the Eremite exclaiming something that was probably an expletive and binding her hands tighter than was probably necessary. Then, he left her alone next to those crates.
Perfect. Lovely. Fantastic.
She had plenty of time to sit there and think while the Eremites continued their packing. Not that she could see much of the Eremites themselves, anyway. It seemed that the crates in which she sat were fully packed and ready for transport, a stark difference from the open ones she could see, where some of the Eremites packed strange glowing capsules she vaguely recognized from Sumeru’s Archon Quest, although it had been at least a year since she played it.
Bored, she turned her gaze upward, watching a solitary bird circle the air above her. The heat was uncomfortable still, but the shade the boxes made brought her some relief, although her arms—what she could feel under her long-sleeved shirt, anyway—remained drenched with sweat. This was horrible weather to be stuck in, made even more so by her current situation. No food, no water, no language to adequately communicate with these people . . . how was she going to live? No. How was she going to survive?
A sudden silence yanked her attention back to Earth, just as the first of the yells echoed over the sand. Eremites rushed past where she sat, drawing axes, swords, and these strange polearms whose names she didn’t know. Several fell at a distance, taken down by a spinning weapon. Others sprinted off into the sands, disappearing beyond where the girl could see.
Nothing could have drowned out the screaming and the yelling from both the defenders and the unseen attackers, the latter of which were clearly on the winning side. More and more Eremites fell or retreated, until the last of them surrendered on their knees, bleeding from their arms, their heads, their torsos.
Finally, finally , the chaos ended, and the screaming was replaced with the sharp orders of people wearing robes and holding spears, who poked the Eremites out of the girl’s sight.
Voices approached where she hid, people talking in a different language, one she still found unfamiliar, but it sounded fundamentally different from that of the Eremites. She instinctively curled further from the gap in the crates, in case these new people were worse than the Eremites who’d captured her, although she wasn’t entirely sure that was possible.
The little golden screen appeared in front of her eyes.
QUEST
Stranger in a Strange Land
Objective complete.
Reward: 975 Mora, 500 Character EXP
New Objective: Find someone to teach you Teyvat’s common language.
A shadow looming in front of her eyes caught her attention. This one was a man with short dark hair. He wore layered robes in varying shades of blue and yellow, the colours brighter than most of the things the girl had seen in the desert, and clutched a spear in his right hand. His eyes widened at the sight of her, and he turned away to call someone else over.
This other person loomed into her space, though he was shorter than the other man, with orange red eyes and long hair such a pale shade of grey it may as well have been white. His black headdress had pointed ears like a desert-dog, the purple and gold accents gleaming in the powerful sunlight. Around his waist was a pair of shorts surrounded by something like a broken kilt, all in those same shades of black-purple-gold, much like his armbands and the wide gold necklace adorning his collarbones.
Cyno. In a non-animated setting, he looked young, perhaps twenty at most, but his gaze looked anything but young. And his eyes-
They were an unfamiliar shade of amber that made her shiver despite the heat.
He spoke in a strangely familiar voice, though the girl had no way of understanding the language he spoke. She didn’t know it or its strange inflections.
“I don’t understand you,” she said.
The pause between her words and Cyno’s reaction was when she realised that the words coming out of her mouth weren’t English at all, but a different language entirely. Melodious, with a refined cadence to it. But when she tried to speak English, it came out as that—oh, no no no. This, like so many other things, was bad.
Cyno’s eyes widened ever so slightly at her voice, then with a nod, he held out a hand. He said something to the person standing next to him, sending him away from the crates. Then, Cyno lowered his voice to a whisper, kneeling so he was at eye level with the girl.
He waved his hand at her, saying something in that same, unfamiliar language.
Probably a hello of some kind. She managed a slight nod at him, which he seemed to take as a sign to continue. Standing, Cyno beckoned with a hand.
To show she understood, she nodded again and hopped off the crates. Her wrists being bound resulted in her losing her balance and falling over into the sand at Cyno’s feet.
He leaned over and swiftly cut the knots away with a knife he’d pulled out of nowhere. The girl stood, stretching her freed wrists. Ah, that felt nice. She hadn’t even realised how uncomfortable having her arms bound was—the battle had been too great a distractor for her to consciously notice the rubbing of the ropes on her wrists.
Cyno stood in front of her, his expression indecipherable. Extending a brown hand towards her, he gestured sideways with an encouraging, though small, smile. Beyond him, more people clad in those blue and gold robes moved the crates onto carts pulled by strange, fluffy beasts. Sumpter beasts. Riiiiiiight. Isekai’d into Teyvat. Whoops, she’d almost forgotten.
They approached the carts, whereupon one of the other people noticed the girl. Ponytail, as the girl mentally dubbed her, asked several questions to Cyno, who traded back what was probably answers and a few questions. Ponytail nodded several times at Cyno’s statements. Orders? Probably orders.
After the conversation ended, Cyno searched through one of the carts, returning with a few things, including a gourd of water and a strange pink and yellow fruit. He made direct eye contact with the girl before beckoning again with his hand.
She fell into step next to him, struggling slightly because he was so much bigger than she was. It was strange—she had once been twenty, living as a university student. Why was she so much smaller than everyone here? She didn’t know enough about isekai stories, but maybe she had been de-aged somehow? Hmmmmm, she’d have to check once she found a reflective surface.
They walked for probably ten-ish minutes before encountering their first sign of trouble: extremely large scorpions. Three of them. And, again, they were massive, with pincers about the size of the girl’s torso. Horrifying.
Cyno made a noise like a sigh. Within seconds, a spear had appeared in his hand, and he went in on the attack. The girl watched as violet lightning crackled across the surface of his spear, which he used to slash and stab the scorpions. One by one, they fell, until all that was left was Cyno, still holding his spear.
The girl realised that she’d been gripping the strange fruit too tightly, bruising its soft surface. To disguise the marks, she took a bite of the fruit, finding it to be sweet and juicy, like a peach. She took another bite, relishing the taste, as Cyno did something to get rid of the scorpions’ corpses. Oh, that fruit was absolutely delicious.
A small chuckle brought her out of her concentration on the fruit. Cyno was laughing at her. The absolute gall.
The girl rolled her eyes at him and began walking forward again, forcing Cyno to continue walking ahead. His eyes gleamed with mirth, a stark difference from when she’d first met him.
They only stopped for a break fifteen or so minutes later, when they came across a statue that glowed red. Its subject was a thin figure wearing long, hooded robes, asleep over a sphere. The figure sat on a leafy tree, radiating a sort of quiescence the girl hadn’t felt in a long time.
She set her hand on the cool stone, hoping that the Statue of the Seven might bless her with something. It suddenly glowed blue, replacing its red light with something just as harsh on the eyes.
~The World Opens Itself to Those with Noble Hearts~
She looked around for the source of the voice, finding nothing but Cyno, who looked slightly confused. Guessing that he hadn’t heard the voice, the girl turned her attention to the little golden screen that had popped up in front of her face.
Feature Unlocked: Minimap.
Oh, that was cool. But not pressing at the moment. Cyno looked rather impatient, and she really didn’t want to piss him off. She walked back towards him, a signal that they could continue walking.
About fifteen more minutes went by, and they finally arrived at the desert’s edge. They passed through a village walled by both stone walls and strange wooden growths from the nearby environment. Tents with colourful fabric tops lined the main street, while the more permanent buildings had leaf-shaped roofs, their green tiles sparkling in the sun, which still remained high in the sky, though not as high as it had been when she’d first awoken.
Everything was fine until the girl noticed that the town’s residents mostly wore the same red bandanas around their necks, and even the same clothing, as the Eremites who captured her not even an hour earlier. Each Eremite she saw sent her heart beating slightly faster, until it pounded so hard she could hear it.
She pressed as close to Cyno as she could, hoping that he wouldn’t be uncomfortable with someone sticking to him in such a manner. Thankfully— thankfully —he appeared to note her reaction to the Eremites, and he hurried her through the crowded marketplace, into the edge of the rainforest.
The heat here clung to her skin, the moisture in the air so heavy that a few extra water droplets would likely conjure clouds. Perhaps this was what made her exhaustion truly set in. She had been fine in the dry desert heat, but now that she had food and water in her belly, now that she was in an environment that felt like a warm blanket, she found herself yawning several times, and rubbing her eyes in an effort to stay awake.
At some point when they stopped to rest, she gave in to her sleep, resolving to take a short nap before they continued on their long walk through the trees.
When she woke up, she wasn’t in the trees anymore.
~~~~
Cyno did his best not to disturb the girl as he set her limp body on one of the couches in Alhaitham’s living room. She had fallen asleep some time ago, and he had carried her all the way from that point—over an hour’s walk—because she looked like she could use the sleep.
When he’d arrived at Alhaitham’s door, he’d second-guessed himself. Cyno knew Alhaitham wasn’t the caring type, but he’d brought a small child to him anyway. He was the best of Haravatat’s scholars, and perhaps he’d know what strange language the girl spoke.
And, as it turned out, Cyno had additional help, as a young, blond man named Kaveh had seen him entering Alhaitham’s house with a young girl and immediately made it known that he did not think Alhaitham was suited to helping a small, scared child.
So now, Cyno, Alhaitham, and Kaveh waited for the girl to wake up in Alhaitham’s living room.
“Are you sure you don’t know her language?” Kaveh asked. He’d removed his Akasha Terminal, setting it on the table in the center of the room, a course of action Alhaitham clearly disapproved of, if his loud sigh when Kaveh first discarded his Akasha meant anything.
Cyno nodded. “Positive.” He looked at Alhaitham. “I was hoping you might help me find out what she speaks.”
“What are you going to do, interrogate her?” Kaveh asked.
“Yes.” Cyno crossed his arms. “It’s protocol.”
“She’s a child! Barely of Akademiya age!”
Being a rational person, Cyno had considered this; however, being the new General Mahamatra—appointed mere weeks before—he had to do his job properly. And that meant interrogating a girl he was pretty sure was around nine or ten years of age because of a tiny connection to illegal trade. Also, he had to admit she was a mysterious individual, and he wanted to know what exactly caused this small child to speak a language he had never encountered before.
“She is connected to those illegal knowledge capsules,” Cyno said shortly. “Prisoner or not, she is still connected to them. I want to ensure she’s innocent.”
“Sure. Do your new job. Just don’t traumatise her, okay?”
Alhaitham looked up from his book. “I find it concerning that you’re already attached to a person you’ve never interacted with before.”
“She is a child. I’d hardly expect you to understand what it means to be nice to one.”
“I don’t think niceness is the important variable here.” Alhaitham turned a page in his book. “You haven’t spoken to her yet, so I don’t understand how you might already form an attachment. If she turns out to be working with the Eremites, Cyno will be forced to take her into custody.”
Cyno held out a hand. “If it makes you feel better, she was clearly scared of the Eremites in Caravan Ribat. I would just like to confirm her status before relinquishing her to one of the orphanages.”
Kaveh’s eyes widened. “One of the—you can’t be serious! She doesn’t speak Teyvan! How is she going to get anywhere if she can’t-”
The small figure in Cyno’s peripheral vision slowly moved sideways, opening eyes that were clear, bright gold.
Chapter 2: Tutorial: Names are Important, You Know
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Stranger in a Strange Land
Find someone to teach you Teyvat’s common language.
Kaveh seemed very protective of her despite having met her two minutes ago. He couldn’t even understand her, but he’d sat next to her and shot down every suggestion Alhaitham made. Or, she assumed they were suggestions, anyway, given their tones of voice.
Being here was strange, like she was still dreaming. More of the interior of the room seemed stone than wood, with green and blue stained glass adorning all of the windows. There was food on the table—a bowl of those strange peaches whose name she couldn’t remember—but otherwise all of the available space was dominated by books, scrolls, and in one case, a strange, leaf-shaped device lying on one of the stacks of books.
Clearly Alhaitham’s house, if those were any indication.
An arm snaked around her shoulders. Kaveh pulled her close enough that she got a whiff of vanilla and cinnamon from his white shirt. He said something in a frustrated tone of voice, to which Alhaitham replied in a much more unbothered tone. Kaveh shot something back, even more annoyed than before.
They’re fighting. About me.
“Please don’t argue,” she blurted. “Not for my sake.”
Well, that got everyone to shut up quickly. Before looking down to avoid eye contact, the girl noticed Alhaitham’s look of interest. Great, maybe that was enough to get him and Kaveh to stop arguing.
“I don’t understand you, but I can tell you’re arguing.” She kept her gaze on the carpeted floor. “Please don’t.”
Cyno said several things that the girl interpreted as can either of you understand what she’s saying?
Footsteps filled the silent air, something that told her she could raise her head again. Bad mistake, as both Kaveh and Cyno were staring at her, and both of their eyes were unnatural shades of orange and red. She did not like being stared at with those eyes. It was like looking at someone whose eyes were just too blue, like Cyno and Kaveh weren’t human .
Kaveh slowly pointed at himself. He said a few words she didn’t recognize and then one she did: Kaveh. He was introducing himself. She couldn’t make sense of the other things he said, but his name was one thing she understood.
“Kaveh,” she repeated before turning expectantly to Cyno.
He blinked once or twice before pointing at himself. “Cyno.”
They were making progress! She could understand what they meant if they pointed at things hard enough.
Smiling, the girl pointed at each in turn. “Kaveh. Cyno.” She pointed at herself, shrugging. “I don’t remember.” She heard it now, that other language: non memini.
Kaveh’s brows furrowed. “ Non memini ?” he repeated, the slight lilt at the end a question. He pointed at her. “ Non memini .”
She started laughing, frantically shaking her head. That wasn’t her name! It was funny that he thought so, but her name definitely wasn’t Non memini. She meant that she didn’t have a name. But how was she going to tell him that? How did that work?
“ Nomen tuum Kaveh est ,” she told him. Your name is Kaveh.
He nodded. “. . . name is Kaveh.”
It came out as English! They were speaking English!!! She just, for some godforsaken reason, was unable to understand English right now. But this was good. This was progress.
She pointed to herself. “My name . . . nullus .” She shook her head to prove her point. “My name . . . nullus name.”
He shook his head. “No.” Then he nodded. “Yes.”
Was he telling her what yes and no meant?
She shook her head. “ Nullus .” She nodded. “ Ita. ”
“You-” he said something her brain didn’t translate. “- no name?”
She nodded. “No name.”
~~~
No name.
Kaveh turned away from the strange girl to Cyno, feeling a whole mess of emotions. No name. No language. No home, clearly. This poor girl needed a lot of things if she was going to live anything close to a fulfilling life.
Cyno nodded once. “I’ll take that as a sign that she wasn’t involved in the capsule trade. Keep her here, and I’ll be back to check on her in the morning.” He turned towards the door. “I have reports to fill out.”
Internally fighting to keep his protests about being left alone with Alhaitham to himself, Kaveh nodded. “See you.”
“ Vale! ” the girl said cheerfully. “ Gratias tibi! ”
Kaveh had no idea what she said, and neither, it seemed, did Alhaitham, who had returned with a few sheets of paper, including one he seemingly just covered with the Teyvan alphabet.
“What? You’re going to teach her how to read?”
“If you have managed to learn that she has no name, I don’t see why she shouldn’t be able to learn the letters.”
Kaveh spluttered. “She’s barely learned five words in Teyvan and you’re going to introduce her to academic texts?! ”
“No. It would be a waste of time to start there. But if she can recognize the letters, maybe we’ll make more progress.”
“Your name?” the girl asked suddenly, pointing at Alhaitham.
Oh, thank the archons she was making serious progress! If Kaveh could teach her on his own, he wouldn’t have to stay with Alhaitham any longer, which was a blessing considering the last time they were together for this long was when they had their falling out. Two years earlier. Yikes.
“This is Alhaitham,” Kaveh told her.
“Alhaitham,” she repeated. “ Quae sunt illae? ” she pointed at the sheets of paper.
“What are those?” Alhaitham said calmly.
The girl tilted her head at him. “What are those?” she asked.
“Paper.” He gestured to the pencil in his hand. “Pencil.”
Alhaitham walked to the other side of the couch, sitting on the girl’s other side. He began drawing things on the paper, asking her for the words and repeating them in Teyvan. Now smiling slightly, the girl repeated the Teyvan words whenever Alhaitham spoke.
To Kaveh, this was both fantastic and a problem. Clearly, the girl was learning better with Alhaitham than with him, and Kaveh wasn’t about to deny her the blessing of language. However , Kaveh was never going to leave the girl alone with his junior, which left him with a rather terrible conundrum. He had to stay close to the girl, but he couldn’t unless he stayed close to Alhaitham . Ugh. That would be horrible, wouldn’t it? Even if Alhaitham ended up caring for the girl, she’d end up like him , logical and unempathetic. Yeesh .
So, when the girl fell asleep at Alhaitham’s side and both of them stood to give her room to stretch out on the couch, Kaveh turned to him.
“I’m staying.”
Alhaitham set the sheets of paper and the pencil on top of a pile of books. “You get attached too quickly, Kaveh.”
“I don’t care.” Kaveh crossed his arms. “I’ll sleep on the couch until we can figure out a better arrangement.”
“You’ll be cold. I’ll grab you a blanket.”
He disappeared down one of the hallways, returning after a time with a pair of blankets and a stack of colourful books he set on the table next to the girl. They weren’t necessarily meant for children, but Kaveh recognized them as histories and stories easier for a child to understand. Alhaitham probably only kept them so he could be educated on their subjects, but at least he had them. And now he was lending them to a girl with no name and barely an understanding of Teyvan.
Stunned at his junior’s display of kindness, Kaveh accepted the blanket Alhaitham gave him, cautiously watching as Alhaitham draped a second one over the girl’s form. She stuck out against the green couch base, all light brown hair and tanned skin and strangely blue clothes. But at least she was at peace, and for that, Kaveh could begrudgingly thank Alhaitham.
~~~
The house was dark when she awoke the next morning, save for the tiniest bit of green light seeping from the stained glass on the east side of the building (she guessed it was the east side, anyway). Upon noticing that Kaveh slumbered on the couch opposite her own, she slowly stood, avoiding making sounds as best she could.
She set the soft, warm blanket she’d been wrapped in on the couch, before wandering off to explore the house.
The setting was vaguely familiar to her from playing both Alhaitham and Kaveh’s story quests, although it had been a while since then. The central room she stood in seemed to be a living room of sorts, but on either side of it, hallways extended to the rest of the home. Curious, she wandered towards the one to her left.
This room was an office or study of sorts, lined with shelves stocked with books and scrolls. A solitary desk took up part of the space to her left, behind which was a comfortable-looking chair. The carpet was a shade of turquoise, with pale green details that resembled leaves and flowers. Hmmmmm. Pretty, but there wasn’t much here that could help her right now, not if she couldn’t completely read these books.
Turning away from the room, she took the next right, where a narrow hallway led to a small kitchen, complete with a small wooden table and chairs to sit at. Given that nothing here was interesting, either, she continued her way through the house, ignoring the next room with the closed door in case it was Alhaitham’s.
Luckily, the door of the second room was cracked open, letting her peer into a bathroom that, thankfully, had a mirror in it. Good. She could finally take a look at what she looked like. She knew she had her same light brown hair, and her skin was about the same shade of tan as before, but what if something changed? Her height, clearly, but what about anything else?
The mirror was, thankfully, low enough that she could make out her body from her head to just below her armpits, meaning that she could clearly see the youth of her face, the slight amount of baby fat still clinging to her round face, and the golden eyes that peered right back at her. The golden eyes that she hadn’t had when she was at home.
Younger and different. But still the same. She reached for her reflection. Is this normal for an isekai? Am I just weird?
Resolving to call on that problem a different day, she quickly went to the bathroom and washed the sand and dirt from her face, before returning once more to the central room. Oh, there was still at least one more room to see, but she had been gone long enough, and if Kaveh had woken up, he’d no doubt start to worry. He’d seemed worried the night before, when Alhaitham was teaching her how to say a few basic words hello, goodbye, food, zaytun peach .
Maybe not all useful words, but he would probably teach her more in the next few days, if she correctly guessed that he wanted to learn more about the Latin-like language she spoke. And Kaveh, well . . . he probably wanted to make sure she would be ok. Since she looked to be about nine or ten years old, he must be concerned about Alhaitham influencing her . . . she remembered stuff about Alhaitham being rather blunt and rational. That was probably why.
A quick search of the papers in front of her revealed the sheet littered with letters. Teyvan script was different from any English she’d read, although she noticed that some of the letters looked like mirrored or inverted Latinized letters, so she could figure out what they meant sooner or later. It was also very beautiful, so that was a plus.
She leaned back on the couch and practiced writing the letters with a stray pencil she found, doing her best to mimic Alhaitham’s neatly spaced script. The result wasn’t nearly as pretty as his, but at least it was somewhat(?) legible.
The sound of Kaveh’s voice startled her from her concentration. She didn’t recognize what he said, so she managed a smile.
“Hello!”
He tossed his blanket onto his couch, quickly sitting at her side. “Hello!” He tapped her sheet of paper.
She didn’t understand what he said next. “ Quid? ”
He stared at her for a moment. “Letters.”
“Yes, letters. Exerceo .” I am practicing.
“Practicing?”
She nodded. “Yes. Practicing.”
“You are practicing writing.” He mimed writing to make his point.
“Writing. Yes.”
Conversations were a lot of yeses and nos. Even if she couldn’t understand Teyvan until she heard the official translation from someone, she luckily had a sense for when words and translations were correct or not, which helped a ton. Whatever isekai’d her was at least somewhat nice to her in that sense.
Kaveh watched her write down several more letters for a few minutes, before wandering down the hall towards the bathroom. Figuring that it’d be best to leave him alone, the girl continued with her letters, until she finally grew bored of them and decided to look at the books on the table.
Using her handy scroll of letters, the girl could decipher the titles on the books’ spines, and with a little knowledge of how words worked, she could sound them out and figure out what some of these words meant.
NEW QUEST
Names are Important, You Know
Pick a name for yourself.
She stared at the coloured tab for a moment, before attempting to press it. The rectangular popup morphed into a wider one, changing colour from gold to dark blue, where the quest was displayed, along with the reward: 150 Character EXP and 900 Mora. Plus unlocking the Character Menu. Hmmmm.
The Quest Menu looked like the one in Genshin, a live version of the computerised one, complete with tabs to switch to other quests, which at this point numbered one: Stranger in a Strange Land. It had been updated the night before, and now her objective was to be able to hold a conversation with someone in Teyvan. As of right now, that sounded impossible .
She dismissed the tab and turned towards the books again. If she truly needed a name for a quest, then maybe she could find a good one in a book or two. Hopefully, Alhaitham’s books weren’t just math or physics related, like the first two she attempted to translate.
Most of the books on the table were thicker than her wrists, heavy things that would serve well as bludgeoning weapons, if it came to that. But next to these thicker books was a pile she hadn’t noticed the night before. These books were thinner, bound in leather coloured blue and green and purple. Taking the top one from the pile, she sat down on the couch again, her sheet of letters at the ready for translation purposes.
Adventure Abroad: A Collection of Tales from the Adventurers’ Guild.
Perhaps she couldn’t understand all of those words right now (freaky), but she recognised the important ones: Adventurers’ Guild. She knew what those meant. Whatever this book was, it was about the guild. Maybe she could find an adventurer’s name to adopt as her own.
She opened the book, carefully flipping through the pages until she found the table of contents. The names of each nation of Teyvat highlighted each category, each with its own adventurer protagonist. She’d figured this out after translating the first—Fontaine. Tracing the page with her finger, she stopped at each large title, moving onward until she’d translated all of them.
Fontaine , land of water and justice.
Inazuma , land of lightning and eternity.
Liyue , land of earth and contract.
Mondstadt , land of wind and freedom.
Natlan , land of flame and war.
Snezhnaya , land of ice and love.
Sumeru , land of plants and wisdom.
She had choices in her names. She could pick a name from any of the seven regions, even the ones she wouldn't visit for (probably) a while. It was tempting to do so, to pick a name from Snezhnaya or Inazuma, something so different that no one would share her name unless she journeyed there herself.
But why do it? Why do something like that when she could claim a name from Sumeru as her own? She’d all but spawned there the day before, had journeyed through desert and rainforest (though mostly in Cyno’s arms for the latter), seen its harshness and its beauty for herself. It would be right—and poetic—to pick a name from that nation.
So she flipped to the pages about Sumeru, finding the inside of the book full of long passages interrupted by sketches of landscapes, of monsters, of adventurers and the epic commissions they fulfilled. Instead of bothering with translating the paragraphs, she focused on the captions of the images, if there were any.
Deshret was a word that popped up a lot. So did Akademiya , and Sages , and Akasha .
She flipped one of the pages, revealing a stunning map of Sumeru, signed at the bottom by someone whose name was—she quickly translated the letters— Sharzad.
Footsteps coming towards her made her jump. Thankfully, it was just Kaveh, who settled back into his seat next to her, eyes widening at the sight of the map.
He said something that ended with a kind of question. When the girl narrowed her eyes at him, he pointed towards the book, tracing the lines of text one by one. He said the word again. “Reading.”
“Reading. I am.” She looked at the pages. “It is formonsus .” Beautiful.
Kaveh nodded, saying a few things. “It was drawn . . . Sharzad . . .”
Time. He said time. The map was . . . “Drawn much tempus -” she stopped, frustrated at the lack of translation. “ Antiquus. ”
Kaveh nodded. “Ancient. Sharzad was from Kshahrewar, a Darshan in the Akademiya.”
The girl blinked, surprised at her own understanding. She knew what he meant! This was absolutely fabulous. It meant she understood Teyvan grammar, just not its words!
If not for the gorgeous map, then for this achievement . . . the girl decided that this was her sign.
“Name, for me.” She pointed at where the name was signed at the base of the map. “My name. Sharzad.”
QUEST
Names are Important, You Know
Objective Complete.
Reward: 150 Character EXP, 900 Mora, Character Menu unlocked
Notes:
Sharzad has a name, hooray! Honestly, it's horribly difficult to write third person without giving the POV character a name, so here's my way around it.
Sharzad is an alternative spelling of Shahrazad, a Persian name. It's the name of the main character of 1001 Nights, where Shahrazad (sometimes Anglicized as Scheherazade) tells a story to her husband each night for 1001 nights in order to delay her execution. The Sharzad from Teyvat is an original creation of mine, a Kshahrewar researcher who was one of the first people to accurately map the Sumeru desert's various ruins.
Also, since I didn't mention it, this story takes place about six years before the official start of canon, but nearly seven years before the Sumeru Archon Quest begins. Cyno and Alhaitham are both currently twenty, and Kaveh is twenty-two. I'll add more canon characters' ages as they pop up.
Hope you enjoyed!
Chapter 3: Tutorial: A Trip to Treasures Street
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Linguistic Differences
Keep studying Teyvan until you can hold a complete conversation with someone.
Cyno came by later that morning, after Alhaitham, Kaveh, and Sharzad ate breakfast. Alhaitham called the thin crepe they ate dosa , and he adorned Sharzad’s with slices of zaytun peaches, which, as of now, were her favourite food. Actually, the peaches were Kaveh’s idea, but Alhaitham insisted on slicing the peach himself. Even if she couldn’t understand the content of their bickering, Sharzad couldn’t help but snicker at both of them. Even if Kaveh didn’t live here yet, they still argued like they were married.
Even if Kaveh doesn’t live here . . .
She’d figured it out during breakfast, having noticed Kaveh’s lack of a vision and how he’d slept on the couch instead of a bedroom. Oh, she could chalk the latter up to protectiveness, but something told her that Kaveh didn’t live here yet, and that meant that she was in the past. Before all of Genshin’s story took place.
Achievement
Time and Place - Figure out when and where you are
Collect reward in Achievements Menu? [YES]/[NO]
She disguised her click of the yes button as a reach for the glass of water in front of her, and she watched the familiar menu pop up in front of her, complete with sections that she vaguely recognized, though she’d never spent much time perusing the achievements menu. The little red icon next to the Wonders of the World section indicated where the achievement was.
Deciding that there was no way she could click this screen more than once more without looking suspicious, she surreptitiously shut the pop up. She could deal with all these maps and menus later, when she was in private.
This was where Cyno came in. He’d arrived a little after breakfast, when Sharzad was learning more words with Alhaitham who, it seemed, had nothing better to do.
“Cyno, hi.” Kaveh stood, beginning to speak in rapid-fire Teyvan to the General Mahamatra, who responded in turn, sparing a few glances in Sharzad’s direction in the process.
Since Alhaitham had just left to get more paper, she hopped off the couch and wandered over to Cyno and Kaveh.
Cyno looked down at her. “Hello Sharzad.”
Being called the name sent a thrill through her. Her name! The name she picked for herself!
“Hi Cyno! Good morning!”
He reached over and gently patted her head. “Did you sleep well?”
She nodded. “Yes! Did you?”
The look in his amber eyes was a hard no, but he smiled anyway and nodded a yes, before speaking again to Kaveh. So he’d lied to her . . . because of her age, no doubt. Hmph. And the adults were just ignoring her, too. She decided to go back to the couch and take a look at those mysterious screens.
The problem with that was that she didn’t know how to pull up those screens. If this was on her PC, she’d just press the escape button, or the shortcut key to get to the menu, but this wasn’t a game. This was real life, or a very convincing simulation. Still, it was worth a shot, right?
Neither escape or shortcuts worked, even when she mimed and imagined pressing the keys. So there was something else she had to do, right? Something like . . . hmmmmmmm . . .
Main menu!
There—the pop-up was rectangular, as if she’d opened up the menu in game and cut out the part of the screen that included Paimon and the player character. The options here numbered many, though there were still things missing, like the Events button and her Adventurer’s Handbook, but otherwise, she had several tabs to check out. Including her Achievements and her Character screen.
She would have gone on to choose something if Kaveh had not taken a seat next to her and disrupted her plan. God damn it (or gods damn it, now?).
Maybe next time.
~~~
Alhaitham returned to the central room with more paper, just in time to spot Cyno and Kaveh talking, and Sharzad engrossed in the latest pieces of paper. He found the latter rather strange, as she had been perceptive to words and definitions, and extremely good at remembering the words she learned. It was as if Sharzad knew Teyvan and was just relearning it.
“I’d rather have her stay with me than go to one of the orphanages,” Kaveh was telling Cyno.
“Honestly, it’d be better if she stayed here, if you’re so intent on keeping her close,” Alhaitham said. “As an architect, you don’t have a steady enough income to provide for her needs as well as your own, although I would expect you to contribute to her care somehow , if you are so attached to her.”
He’d expected it, of course. This small, mysterious child was exactly what Kaveh rapidly attached himself to, much like he’d done to a pet or two during their student days. Alhaitham had never understood this, as he required time to form true attachments, to open up to people. He hadn’t really realised this until the thesis project they’d had, until he’d shared surprisingly personal things with Kaveh. And then they’d had that . . . foolish squabble, and they’d gone their separate ways, something Alhaitham deeply regretted ever since.
Until the evening before, Alhaitham had only caught glimpses of the so-called Light of Kshahrewar, flashes of golden hair during Akademiya sessions, and wine-red eyes sparkling as he discussed his work with fellow architects and his clients. Now, they had a strange sort of living situation going on, for the sake of a girl. A girl Alhaitham was teaching so she could survive in the world beyond his house, and perhaps also to have Kaveh close by again.
“I’m not letting her live here with you!” Kaveh exclaimed. He walked to the couch and sat next to Sharzad, a clear display of his protectiveness towards the young girl.
“What, you want to supervise her?” Alhaitham shrugged. “Be my guest. I suppose you’ll have to share a bed with me. Sleeping on a couch for a long period of time will negatively affect your spinal cord.”
Kaveh spluttered. “I can’t do that!”
Sharzad looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. She clearly didn’t understand what was going on.
“Oh?” Alhaitham tilted his head. “But I thought you wanted to supervise her? I only have one other bedroom, and it’s surely going to be hers, right?”
“I can’t let her stay with you long,” Cyno warned. “A few months at most.”
“And then what?” Kaveh asked.
“Either you formally adopt her, or she’s turned over to foster care.” At Kaveh’s concerned expression, Cyno raised a hand. “She’ll be placed with a good family, don’t worry, and given a future at the Akademiya if she passes the entrance exam.”
Kaveh looked like he was considering his options. His gaze flitted from Sharzad to Alhaitham, like he was deciding the lesser of two evils. Personally, Alhaitham thought this was a simple decision, given that Kaveh’s presence would likely be beneficial for Sharzad’s development, but perhaps Kaveh thought differently.
“Fine,” he said finally, sighing all the while he spoke. “I’ll move my things over this afternoon. But right now, I say we find her better clothes to wear than those ones.”
Alhaitham agreed with him. Sharzad’s clothes were covered in sand from the day before, and although he cared little for aesthetics, he did care for cleanliness and good health. Right now, Sharzad’s dirty, hole-ridden clothing was doing the opposite of preserving either of those things.
“I’ll fetch my coin purse. Let’s take a trip to Treasures Street.”
~~~
To say Kaveh was concerned with aesthetics was an understatement. And Sharzad couldn’t even understand him whenever he spoke!
But she had a front-row seat to every moment Kaveh held an article of clothing next to her, gesturing to both her skin, hair, and eyes, before deciding whether to send her to try them on in the back of the stores or returning them to the racks stocked with colourful clothes. Everything from simpler dresses to more ornamental overshirts were fair game to the architect, who seemed determined to go through the entirety of Treasures Street before making a single purchase.
Thankfully, Alhaitham clearly had some sense, and he would stop Kaveh from buying too much with a few well-placed words that Sharzad didn’t completely understand, either. Still, she had her own arguments for not buying up the entirety of the shop, and she had a sense that Alhaitham’s points were similar to her own.
And so, Kaveh managed to limit those purchases to things that Sharzad herself chose from the selection of clothing Kaveh deemed appropriate. These included a tunic that reached her knees in a bright shade of pink, and several other articles in more Sumerian colours, like that peacock blue shirt, or those loose pants in a vivid emerald green. She declined most of the shoulder capes Kaveh suggested, though she finally caved when presented with one made of fabric the colour of marigolds, with intricate stitching depicting leaves and petals falling towards its base.
“One only,” she said, touching the golden fabric. “This one.”
Kaveh laughed, a bright sound she’d already heard a few times in the past hour, always with regards to her. Always when it came to her. It felt strangely honest, too, like his laughs were genuine, and not the false ones Sharzad originally assumed he was making just for her benefit.
Alhaitham nodded approvingly, which Sharzad found hypocritical considering he, too, liked shoulder capes, although today he’d forgone the cape for a sort of lightweight shirt with longer sleeves. He took the cape from Kaveh, draping it over the rest of the clothing on his arm, which was quite a lot more clothing that Sharzad probably needed. Still, Kaveh seemed intent on spoiling her, and she didn’t yet have the Teyvan vocabulary to tell him anything more than no without causing confusion, so she let it slide.
They eventually left the shop, walking back to Alhaitham’s house—only to stop when Alhaitham of all people deviated from the set path towards a large building with books inside. Sharzad didn’t need Kaveh’s explanation to know it was a library, but she thanked him for it, anyway.
“It’s pretty,” she said.
Kaveh’s expression was a complicated mess of emotions, between his brows furrowed in concentration and the approving nod he made. “It’s one of the only-” he hesitated, turning towards her. “-buildings?” when she nodded, a signal that she understood, he continued. “It’s one of the only buildings that uses . . .” The next words he said were ones she didn’t understand.
“What?”
“I’ll . . . you . . .”
I’ll tell you later, probably. Ugh.
She wanted to ask for more answers, but Alhaitham chose that moment to leave the library, his arms full of various books of varying sizes. When Kaveh asked him about it, Alhaitham’s only answer was for her .
For her.
For her.
For her.
Why? So much of Alhaitham’s character was based on logic, right? If she could easily separate the fanfic from the actual canon, that might help out . . . but, no, he was the stoic one, Kaveh was the emotional, creative one. Two sides of the same coin. Opposites attract and all that.
So what was Alhaitham’s justification here? What was the point of all this?
~~~
As it turned out, the point was helping Sharzad learn faster. These books were dictionaries, encyclopaedias, story books for younger children and a novel or two from Inazuma . . . so many different tomes, all now sitting on a lower shelf in her new bedroom. The rest of the shelves were stocked with Alhaitham’s vast collection of reading material, most of it more advanced than she could read at present, but hopefully she could get there soon.
Teyvat’s story and lore were interesting . That’s why she loved the game so much in the first place! She had the chance to explore a world beyond her own, to learn about it at her own pace—even though she didn’t really pay attention to the lore that wasn’t in quests. Now that she was in said world (although in mysterious circumstances that she didn’t really trust), she could study it like she was from it. She could join the Akademiya and study something cool! Or travel the world and visit the other nations!
Main menu!
The aforementioned screen popped up in front of her now. Since she finally had some time to herself in her room, she’d decided to take a look at the things she hadn’t yet been able to.
For instance, the Character Menu.
She was instantly met with a sort of . . . animated version of her current self, complete with the new clothing she wore—that pink tunic from earlier. It had a sort of white patterning crossing the top, fading to complete white where the loose sleeves ended, right at her elbow. Like characters in Genshin, this version of herself seemed to have animations it cycled through, mostly pointing stuff out and giggling. Cute.
Sharzad
✦✦✦✦✦✦ Level 1/?
🌢 Max HP: 1000
⚔ ATK: 20
⛨ DEF: 60
⚝ Elemental Mastery: 0
Max Stamina: 100
Details
A former Genshin player currently living with Alhaitham and Kaveh.
And that was it. Her whole first character page. Cool to know she was weak. Fantastic. Wahoo.
Still, things here were strange, like how her level was one out of ? . Could she go over 90? Were the rules different for her specifically, or was this a completely different system?
Fully expecting a similar change in the weapons screen, she pressed that button, finding her weapon catalogue empty and, strangely enough, no listed weapon of choice. She didn’t have an element, either, although that was easily explained by her lack of a vision. Yet, the big takeaway was that she had no weapons to choose from, and no singular weapon to wield . Did that imply greater potential? Probably. Was she going to be careful about her weapon choice if she got one? Absolutely. She refused to wield a claymore twice her size, and her lack of aiming skill made a bow . . . cumbersome.
Maybe one day.
After quickly checking the artefacts tab and the profile tab (both of which were empty) and realising that she a) had no constellation right now and b) had no talent screen, either, she left the Character Menu in favour of checking out the Achievements side of things, where she collected a grand total of ten primogems for her accomplishments in the past day.
Fine. Great. What was she going to do with those? Was she going to get wishes somehow? Wishes for what? Because she certainly couldn’t wish for characters , now could she. But maybe weapons . . . hmmmm and something else, perhaps? A surprise?
It was best to wait and see.
Notes:
And so the language-learning saga continues!
I think shoulder capes and cloaks have to be extremely common fashion in Sumeru because of the sun and the temperature, so of course Sharzad has to get one. Just one for the moment, though.
Also, Sharzad's game system is not just Genshin's for a reason. Those gods from the beginning said they'd each give her a gift--the game system was one of them. Once she finishes the tutorial, more stuff is coming her way, don't worry :)
Chapter 4: Tutorial: Family Found
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Finish Reading Records of the Akademiya
Reward: 200 Character EXP, 1300 Mora, Increased Fluency in Teyvan
Alhaitham and Kaveh were both surprisingly insistent on her spending time outside, but Sharzad’s determination to actually understand everything they said kept her inside for much of her first two weeks. She didn’t want to wander Sumeru City until she could easily understand people, in case she got lost or got kidnapped again.
So, while Alhaitham left for his job at the Akademiya and Kaveh wandered in and out of the house between meetings with clients and working on commissions, Sharzad read the books Alhaitham picked up from the library. She spread them out on her bed, switching them out if she got bored with them. The open window of her room allowed fresh air in, bringing in the scent of the flowers from around the city, and at meal times, the smell of food from the various restaurants and cafes populating the city. Chattering passers-by brought a background noise that made reading alone perfectly comfortable.
She turned another page of her book. It was easier to read now, about ten days into her stay in Teyvat, than it had been earlier. The symbols she began recognising as letters came easily now, and she could simply read words rather than spending time deciphering them. If she found anything unfamiliar, she’d turn to the dictionaries, and if that failed, the encyclopaedias, until she had amassed a decent vocabulary. Records of the Akademiya was just the latest in a series of books she’d read, but it was arguably the most advanced, being a thick tome detailing the Akademiya’s founding and the eventual creation of the six Darshans.
When she was about halfway through the book (after a long day of reading, mind you), Alhaitham peeked into her room.
“It’s time to eat.”
She saw the slight widening of his eyes as he read the title of the thick book propped up in front of her. “I’m coming!” She tried to put as much enthusiasm into her voice as she could, dashing out of her room towards the kitchen table.
Well, no, actually. The first thing she did was stop by the study to check on Kaveh. He had a tendency to forget to eat if he was engrossed in his work—a trait he and Sharzad shared. Meanwhile, Alhaitham seemed to operate on a schedule of some kind, likely driven by his own pursuit of health, so meal prep fell to him more times than not.
Thankfully, it seemed Kaveh had actually participated in cooking today, since he wasn’t in the study, so Sharzad went to the kitchen. She was greeted by the sight of bowls of ghormeh sabzi—a meat and herb stew—and a large plate of rice in the centre of the small dining table.
She slid into her seat. “Hey Kaveh!”
He shot her a look from where he stood. “No no no. Wash your hands first.”
“I was only reading, but, ugh, fine .”
In the time between her leaving to wash her hands and returning to the table, Alhaitham had arrived, and so they sat down for dinner. Sharzad absent-mindedly twirled her spoon between mouthfuls of her food, relishing the comfortable silence punctuated by the clinking of utensils on the bowls’ rims.
“What were you reading today?” Kaveh asked her.
“ Records of the Akademiya .”
The quiet clinking of his spoon turned into a full crash as it slipped past his fingers and landed directly in his stew. “ What?! ”
Sharzad shrugged. “It’s interesting.”
And she’d progressed enough to (mostly) fully understand it, partly because of how everyone around her spoke Teyvan, and how she was familiar with its grammar rules (since it was just English with a different alphabet). She’d become basically fluent in the language and knowledgeable on several subjects because of the books she read. Plus , those reading quests she completed, like her current one, brought her increased fluency automatically, as well as several other rewards. She’d earned several thousand Mora in the past two weeks, along with enough EXP to get to Level 2, plus halfway to Level 3.
“I admit, I am surprised to see you reading it so soon,” Alhaitham said. “Although maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, since you grasped a few basic phrases within your first day.”
“Thanks, I think.” Sharzad winced as she dragged her spoon along the bottom of her bowl, an effort to get the last of her stew in her spoon. “Sorry.”
“Perhaps you should take the Akademiya’s entrance exams next time they take place.”
Now it was Sharzad’s turn to drop her spoon in shock. Exams? She was ten! Physically, anyway.
“I agree with Alhaitham, for once.”
She gaped at Kaveh. “Why?”
“It’s your choice in the end.” Kaveh picked her bowl off the table, stacking it on top of his and Alhaitham’s empty ones. “But the truth is, you need something better to do than just sitting in here and reading all day. Haitham and I were both a few years younger than you when we enrolled, although he -” he jerked his head towards Alhaitham. “-spent a couple years at home before taking classes.”
Sharzad bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from launching into a series of expletives very inappropriate for any ten-year-old’s vocabulary. “Can’t I do that too? I don’t want to take classes all the time.”
There were things she still needed to do before committing to a full course load! Like figuring out how to get access to wishes, and exploring Sumeru so her mini-map was completed! At least Sumeru’s part, anyway. And learning how to fight so she could max out her Sumeru map!
“The Akademiya is flexible,” Alhaitham said. “As long as you complete your final thesis within . . . about twenty years or so, you can take however many classes you wish every semester.”
“ Twenty years? ”
“It took me nine years, and Kaveh eight. We stayed afterwards to keep researching, until . . .” Alhaitham trailed off, before very quickly saying. “I became a scribe, and Kaveh left to pursue architecture full time.”
Okay, never mind. Maybe going to classes might be a good thing, after all, especially if she could pick and choose classes to take. Taking two or three per semester would give her enough time to do other things, like exploring Sumeru’s rainforests. Or, she could structure her life like it had been at university in her old life, and take four months of vacation to explore the world . . . Plus, she wouldn’t be bored out of her mind, which was surely going to happen if she stayed at Alhaitham’s house for too much longer.
After a pause, Sharzad nodded. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
And thus began her studies for entrance to the Akademiya.
~~~
As Cyno’s deadline for making a decision about Sharzad approached, Kaveh found himself getting used to too many things in Alhaitham’s house.
Like how his changes to the decor remained despite Alhaitham’s commentary about how they were unnecessary. Or how Sharzad’s brown hair turned a particular shade of blond when the light from the kitchen hit her head just right . Or how Alhaitham actually seemed to care about the child in their care, about her well-being, and actually brought her things like books and papers from the House of Daena. Like he was trying to spoil her in his own, driven-by-practicality, way. Personally, Kaveh preferred buying Sharzad trinkets, the kinds of little things she could set on her shelves to decorate her room—which had gradually become her space over the course of ten weeks—or things she could wear as jewellery.
The point was, what Kaveh most definitely wasn’t used to was waking up with a pair of arms wrapped around him. He and Alhaitham had been very careful about how they shared a bed, never moving into another one’s space until the morning he woke up with Alhaitham cuddling him .
Oh, he’d gotten used to those fluttery feelings he’d experienced as of late, that return to friendly bickering and debate that sent warmth blooming in his chest. It was like having his best friend back, like they hadn’t had that inevitable fight that split them apart. Kaveh just wasn’t sure when he’d crossed the line from platonic to an outright crush on his junior. Maybe it was the part where they were sleeping in the same bed, or perhaps the sheer domesticity of sharing a house, caring for a child who might as well have been their daughter, and doing simple things like getting the groceries together.
But Alhaitham surely didn’t reciprocate, and Kaveh wasn’t about to upset the delicate balance between them when that delicate balance meant that Sharzad had a home, however unconventional a home it was. So he slowly removed Alhaitham’s arms from around his waist and shuffled further away from his roommate, so that even he wouldn’t know what happened.
To keep himself focused, Kaveh buried his memories of that encounter for the rest of the day, working on commissions before he remembered Cyno’s deadline. He stopped by Sharzad’s room to check on her, and once he was certain she was too engrossed in her set of practice questions to do anything else, he wandered to the other side of the house, locking the door to the study behind him.
“We need to talk.”
Alhaitham didn’t raise his head from the thesis proposals in front of him. “Yes, we do.”
“Cyno’s deadline-”
“He reminded me this morning when I went out to buy coffee beans. He’s given us two days.”
Kaveh put his fingers on his temples. “ Fantastic . I’ll run to the Akademiya to get the paperwork, and-”
Alhaitham searched through one of his desk’s drawers, pulling out the thick stack of paperwork and handing it to him. “Here.”
Mouth hanging open, Kaveh slowly took the papers. “How—how long have you had these?”
“A month. It’s best to be proactive about these things.” Alhaitham raised an eyebrow at him. “Is there a reason you waited this long? Did you want to make sure you’re really attached to her?”
It took every fibre of Kaveh’s being not to raise his voice. Sharzad couldn’t know about this—it was supposed to be a surprise! “I wanted her to feel comfortable!”
“She’s been comfortable with you since the beginning. And you spoil her more than you should.”
“Like you don’t.”
Alhaitham, the bastard, returned to reading the thesis proposal in front of him rather than looking Kaveh in the eye. “I bring Sharzad things that are useful to her and her studies.”
Kaveh scoffed. “And you think the things I bring her aren’t? ”
“I think a jewellery collection larger than King Deshret’s is a hindrance more than anything else. She has less space for her books because of all those trinkets you buy and make for her.” Alhaitham flipped over the thesis proposal, before setting it aside. “Now, are you going to tell her the news or will I have to?”
“Why don’t you come, too?” Kaveh asked.
Alhaitham hummed. “I was under the impression that you didn’t want me near her.” Teal-orange eyes met wine-red. “Or did your opinion of me change, senior?”
Kaveh had to squash the sudden heat sparking in his face so deep it may as well have been moved underground. “My opinion of you hasn’t changed one bit.” Lies lies lies, came the chant from the back of his mind. Kaveh crossed his arms. “But Sharzad likes it when you’re there.”
“Sharzad likes a lot of things you don’t, it seems.” The corners of his lips quirked up into a small, teasing smile. “But, alright, I suppose I’ll join you. I could use a walk, anyway.” He stood and began walking to the door.
“Who said anything about going outside?”
“I did.” Alhaitham plucked the papers from Kaveh’s hands and set them on the desk. “Come on, unless you intend on me telling her the good news.”
Sighing, Kaveh followed Alhaitham out of the study and across the hall to Sharzad’s bedroom. Alhaitham sidestepped when they got near the closed door, leaving Kaveh with the responsibility of disturbing her. A responsibility he didn’t want. After a moment’s hesitation, Kaveh knocked twice and waited for a reply.
“Yeah?” came the answer from inside. “Come in.”
Kaveh opened the door, finding Sharzad sitting on the floor with paper scattered all around her in a strange puzzle. They were star charts, her latest obsession after Kaveh had discussed personal constellations with her. He really hoped she wouldn’t join Rtawahist as her Darshan, but that outcome looked more probable every day she stared at those blasted charts.
“Did you finish your practice questions?”
“Few minutes ago. I did okay, I think, although I didn’t check my answers.” Unlike Alhaitham, she turned to him so she could make eye contact. “Why?”
Another thing Kaveh had yet to get used to, besides waking up to Alhaitham cuddling him , was the paradox that was Sharzad . Oh, she looked young, sometimes acted like someone her age might, all giggles and laughter and playing games . . . but her personality, the certain look her eyes got, showed a strange sense of maturity that Kaveh couldn’t decipher, something beyond just what the children attending the Akademiya did. This puzzle that was the girl with the eyes like molten gold was one even the Light of Kshahrewar couldn’t solve.
“We’re going on a walk, if you’d like to join us.”
Her brows knitted together, but she nodded. “Okay!”
~~~
The sweet perfume of Sumeru Roses and Padisarahs filled the warm, late afternoon air as they walked past Bimarstan towards the edge of Sumeru City, towards the rainforest Sharzad had only visited a handful of times in ten weeks.
Studying took up most of her time, after all, but she received more benefits from doing so than from exploring the forest beyond the city. She couldn’t defend herself, not yet, although she was in half a mind to ask about getting lessons in some sort of weapon. It’d be useful in the long run, after all.
“Have you thought about the Darshan you’re applying for?” Kaveh asked her.
She hummed. “Maybe Vahumana?”
She couldn’t help her giggles as both Kaveh and Alhaitham turned to stare at her like she’d grown three heads. Oh, sometimes they bickered like an old married couple, and sometimes they seemed like complete opposite, but sometimes she threw them enough of a curveball that both of them reacted the same way. And she’d known that saying Vahumana was her choice was going to send both of them into shock, seeing as Kaveh really loved the idea of her joining Kshahrewar so he could keep an eye on her (not that he told her that), and Alhaitham did not like Vahumana on principle of being a member of Haravatat (which he also didn’t tell her).
“That’s an interesting choice,” Alhaitham said once he’d recovered (the short amount of time made Sharzad guess that he was internalising his surprise for later). Kaveh continued gaping at Sharzad. “What about Vahumana interests you?”
“The historic relationships between the seven nations. King Deshret’s civilization.” She grinned. “Archaeology.” The real kind, of course, not the Indiana Jones kind. Although, if she became an archaeologist in Teyvat, she’d probably do some Indiana Jones-style action, anyway. She smiled wider. “ And I get to combine puzzle-solving, architecture, and linguistics, so don’t tell me I’d do better in the other Darshans.”
“I wasn’t saying any of those things.” Kaveh held his hands up. “I didn’t say anything at all.”
“You were thinking it!”
Was any of that too strong for a ten-year-old? Ooof, it felt like it was.
Child to adult and adult to child . . . Sharzad didn’t know the proper balance yet. She could sometimes tell that what she said was too mature, or too sarcastic, things out of habit from being an older person. But acting like a younger kid was something she took pleasure in. She hadn’t had the chance to really enjoy her childhood in her old life, and she wanted to do so now.
Which was obviously why she was going to take an entrance exam to a prestigious university in two and a half months, and hopefully start attending said prestigious university three months later.
Oops.
But honestly, the children she’d seen around Sumeru City, particularly the Akademiya students, generally spoke more like adults than like children anyway, so Sharzad guessed that no one would bat an eye if she sounded more mature than a normal ten-year-old. If a normal ten-year-old even was a thing in Sumeru.
She was lost in thought enough that she hadn’t noticed they had walked right out of Sumeru City, into the thick forest surrounding it. Genshin itself hadn’t fully illustrated just how thick the rainforest was beyond the well-tread roads to the small satellite villages and other towns beyond Sumeru City, but in truth, the growth was so thick in places that you needed a blade to walk through.
“Why are we out here?”
“To talk.” Alhaitham stepped off the path, leading them a few feet into the trees. “Outside, where no one can bother us.”
Oh no. They were kicking her out, weren’t they? It had been inevitable in her earlier days, but she’d really started to hope that maybe she could stay with Kaveh and Alhaitham. At least until the Akademiya accepted her as a student, when she could move into the dorms housing international students. But, that was what things were looking like. If she didn’t make it into the Akademiya, she’d probably have to run to Fontaine or Liyue and live there instead.
Kaveh must’ve noticed her face falling. “It’s nothing bad. Look-” he knelt to the ground so he was eye-level with her. “-when Cyno first brought you to Alhaitham, he gave us a deadline. There’s only so long a child with no-” he faltered. “-relatives can live in someone else’s home without the matra showing up. At least in Sumeru, anyway.”
She slowly blinked. That wasn’t how you tell someone you’re kicking them out.
Wait a damn minute-
“Listen, I— we ,” Kaveh added after a glance at Alhaitham, who nodded. “ We want you to stay with us as long as you need to, okay? And for that, there’s some paperwork that needs to be signed, so the matra understand.” He hesitated again, swallowing once. “What I mean is—I’m going to legally adopt you, if that’s okay.”
Her brain short-circuited.
I’m going to legally adopt you, if that’s okay.
He’d decided that in two months? Two months? He wanted to make that important decision after knowing her for two months? And Alhaitham, the guy who’d been teasing Kaveh since the beginning (she thought, anyway) about how he’d gotten attached to her so quickly was accepting this?
I’m going to legally adopt you, if that’s okay.
She was dreaming—or hallucinating—she had to be. Kaveh and Alhaitham, who, to her knowledge, were not yet together, had made a joint decision to keep her with them. Under their roof (Alhaitham’s technically). To keep her close enough to legally declare her family , and to ask her for permission to do so. Oh, the past few months had felt like a hallucination at times, but no moment had felt like a hallucination as much as this one right here. Holy shit.
I’m going to legally adopt you, if that’s okay.
“I think you broke her,” Alhaitham commented.
“Did not!” Kaveh’s red eyes were wide and panicked. “She’s surprised, that’s all. Why is she surprised? She shouldn’t be surprised!”
Oh , Sharzad mentally remarked, despite her state of total shock. He’s panicking. I should probably say something.
“Okay.” She nodded, an echo of what she’d said weeks earlier when she committed to studying for the Akademiya exam. “Yes. Do it.”
Now it was Kaveh’s turn to gape at her. “Really?”
“She just said yes in three different ways, Kaveh,” Alhaitham said. “What more do you need?” Sharzad could see the tiny, teasing smile on his face, even if Kaveh couldn’t. “Written proof?”
“General Cyno is going to need it.” Sharzad tilted her head at Alhaitham. “Do I need to sign anything?”
“No. Although I think a matra needs to check that our home is suitable for you, but I believe Cyno will personally do so.”
Sharzad gave him a thumbs up. “Cool.” She turned to Kaveh, who still looked like he was in shock. “Kaveh? Are you okay?”
“Huh?” He shook himself from his daze. “Yes. Fine.” Kaveh patted Sharzad’s shoulder twice. “Come on. I have papers to sign.”
QUEST
Family Found
Objective Complete
Reward: Updated Character Information, New Familial Perk (Architect’s Scion) Unlocked
Achievement Unlocked: The Bonds that Tie Us
Notes:
And so Sharzad gains a Dad, while the road to two dads begins! I think Kaveh's the most oblivious of the two of them, but my man's falling for Alhaitham so hard he might as well be the meteor in Zhongli's burst lol.
This is one of the last consistently multi-POV chapters I think I'm going to write so I can really focus on Sharzad as a character and her arc (otherwise we'll be here for years). However, there's still going to be character POVs as epilogues to the main chapters, and I might even start a secondary fic for shorter, "lost POVs" that might come up, or even one specifically about Alhaitham and Kaveh's relationship.
Hope you enjoyed! :)
Chapter 5: Tutorial: Dreams and Reality
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Pass the Akademiya Entrance Exam
Reward: Internal Akademiya Map Unlocked, 500 Character EXP, 2000 Mora
There were about fifty other people who took the exam with her, and exactly none of the fifty walked out of the exam room feeling confident of their scores. The Akademiya entrance exam was brutal , containing questions on every subject from mathematics and science to language and history, tailored in part to whatever Darshan each candidate intended on joining. They were not, however, tailored to age, meaning Sharzad took the exact same entrance exam as the seventeen and eighteen year olds vying for acceptance into the Akademiya, and any adults attempting to do the same in their later years.
She’d written so many words about the effect of Liyue as the birthplace of Mora on Teyvat’s economy that when she left the room, her wrist barely had the strength to pull the door open, and when she finally left the Akademiya through the mostly-deserted House of Daena, the sun was already halfway down the sky.
Six hour exams should be banned. Yeesh .
She took the spiralling stone bridge-road down to the raised platform where home was, a commute of five minutes rather than thirty, which a welcome change from her previous life. After fumbling with her keys (shoved deep in her bag so no one could easily steal them), she unlocked the door and darted inside, ready for a nice snack, and perhaps a nap, even if Alhaitham would chide her for disrupting her sleeping schedule.
The mental reminder of that particular reaction sent her running her fingers through her hair. Ugh, Alhaitham scolding her wasn’t something she had the energy to deal with today, since he usually just warned her of the negative effects of whatever she was doing and then returned to whatever he was doing, saying that it was her choice in the end . At least Kaveh was proactive, although that meant he was keen on things like grounding her or sentencing her to shadowing him for the day. The shadowing thing was mostly fine since she got to test out her new skill, Architect’s Scion (which allowed her to look at surfaces and accurately know their measurements up to, as of her first level, a distance of thirty metres). However, Kaveh’s clients had a tendency to pinch her cheeks or call her cute, something she dreaded even more than seeing Kaveh slowly lose his mind as said clients picked apart his painstakingly-created designs.
Sighing again, she changed out of her comfortable exam clothing (a hodge-podge of colours and materials that had made Kaveh gape at her the entire way up to the Akademiya that morning) and into something a little more cohesive: a honey-yellow tunic with long, loose sleeves, plus a few of the trinkets Kaveh had brought her—earrings and a small pendant, both made with ornaments of red agate. They were precious to her, like all of what Kaveh had bought her or made her, though her collection had grown quite vast in the span of six months. She was sure that it would only grow from there, even if the people of Sumeru cared less for the aesthetic of their physical appearances, because Sharzad cared for her physical appearance, and so she got to wear jewellery and clothing in a way that was pleasing to her .
Screw (nearly) everyone else’s over-dependence on the Akasha Terminals and decreased appreciation for art and beauty. Which was exactly the type of thing Alhaitham and Kaveh would say, respectively.
Speaking of Akasha Terminals . . . Sharzad would get one if she managed to pass her exam (which she really hoped would happen), since everything related to the Akademiya, like her schedule and her homework assignments, would be uploaded to the Akasha for convenience purposes. She’d already made up her mind to only use the Akasha for those purposes, because, frankly, she didn’t want to deal with the whole samsara Groundhog Day bullshit from the Sumeru Archon Quest.
Except . . . well shit, she’d have to do that anyway, if the Traveler didn’t show up. Oh, wait, what if she had to do all the Traveler stuff? She hadn’t planned to do so, but just in case . . . ah, she had to plan now, didn’t she? Plan around what she remembered of the lore and plot, which was gradually mixing with her actual knowledge of Teyvat from her studies to enter the Akademiya.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck shitty fuck fuck.
After panicking like this for a full three minutes, she decided to take a walk in the city to start planning, leaving a note behind to tell Kaveh and Alhaitham that she’d be wandering the part of Sumeru City near the docks in order to get some much-needed fresh air. She did not mention that she was partly doing this to figure out what was going on in other nations so she could plan ahead.
Basically, she’d been studying so much for her exam that she hadn’t had the time to read newspapers or speak to travellers from the other parts of the world, so Sharzad was pitifully lacking in the realm of global awareness. If Teyvat even was a globe.
The point was that she was missing a considerable amount of information related to the goings-on of the world, and speaking to people like adventurers at the Adventurers’ Guild or dock-workers was her best bet to figure things out. Besides, for the moment at least, the world seemed to be in a semblance of peace, and she would rather learn about the other nations’ mundanities now rather than when everything inevitably dipped into total chaos.
After stopping to buy a paper cup of punugulu from a vendor, she followed the streets towards the Adventurers’ Guild, navigating the streets of people clad in varying bright colours until the clothes slowly became the same shade of forest green. Adventurers arriving from all over the area spoke amongst each other, collected commission rewards, scanned maps for where their next quest would take them. Sharzad watched a pair of Sumerian adventurers greet one another with excited shouting, and guessed from context that the one with the darker hair had been working in Natlan for the past year. Behind the counter of the guild’s branch, Katheryne, who looked eerily human despite being an automaton, handed out commission requests and rewards, discussed beasts and monsters, and scanned the crowd for individuals she would call to the front.
Sharzad munched on her punugulu as she walked by, taking the path down past the guild towards the terrace overlooking the docks. She did her best to avoid looking at the active teleport waypoint next to Lambad’s Tavern, which she had learned no one else had activated . . . so while her life functioned like the game, no one else’s did. So she couldn’t teleport yet, especially not at her age. Such a connection to the Ley Lines would single her out, something she did not want yet.
Oh, she knew attention was inevitable, but she hoped to hold it off for a bit. Everything that had happened to her—the strange game abilities, her being isekai’d, being adopted by Kaveh—those were all hallmarks of someone whom destiny wouldn’t leave alone.
Except I’m going to choose it before it comes calling for me. Fuck off, Fate. I’m in charge and I’m not going down easily!
The breeze rustled the sails of the boats at the docks, carrying with it the smell of oncoming rain. She knew that if she followed the breeze eastward, to the outskirts of the city, she would see the darkening clouds passing over the rectangular peaks of Liyue’s Chasm. Only, the point of smelling the rain was that it was a warning of what was to come. So, sure, she could stay and look at the Chasm for a few minutes, or she could run home before the storm finally came. And based on how the clouds above thickened by the second, the storm was going to be quite sudden.
Sharzad turned and raced home again.
~~~
She often dreamt about the desert. About walking across sand-covered stone in the shadow of monuments she’d once seen from afar, whose insides she had only witnessed in books and in a game that seemed so far from her these days. Sometimes, the sky was full of the blanket of stars she’d glimpsed from her bedroom window, others, the sun beat down on her shoulders, on her neck, on her head.
This time, she wandered her way towards an oasis, the gleaming water a welcome respite from the sun’s burning heat. The birds that populated the area, the fungi splashing around in the water, everything, paid no mind to her as she dipped her toes in the cool water. Quietly singing to herself, she waded in until she was ankle-deep in the oasis.
“Arabian nights, Like Arabian dreams, This mystical land of magic and sand, Is more than it seems.”
Although, technically speaking, it was not night, nor was she in Arabia; however, given Sumeru’s overall aesthetic, she found the song appropriate, and she continued to sing the melody under her breath.
A childish, high-pitched giggle was the first clue that someone else was with her. It was hidden between Sharzad’s leisurely splashing and her singing, but it obviously came from someone else. She glanced around a few moments before returning to splashing. If someone in her dream wanted to talk to her, they could start by showing themselves.
She heard the giggle again, closer this time, and when she looked to her left, she found a girl about her age, if not a few years younger. Her pointed ears seemed to yell supernatural heritage, and coupled with her white and green dress, her little cape, and the green headpiece in her white hair, Sharzad could easily guess who this was.
“Hi?” Sharzad said.
Nahida turned to her. Her eyes-
The deep, bright green, the leaf-shaped pupils, the fact that they looked strangely old and experienced, a sign that Nahida wasn’t a child, but a 500-year-old god—oh, was this why Kaveh used to look so surprised whenever he made direct eye contact with Sharzad? It makes so much sense now .
“That’s a pretty song.”
“Yeah.” Sharzad looked down, trying to figure out how to politely ask who Nahida was. “Um, who—who are you?”
Nahida stopped moving for a moment, before smiling. “I’m Nahida.”
“Nahida. I’m dreaming, right?” Sharzad gestured towards the rest of the desert. The oasis. The docile fungi. “I didn’t come out to the desert.”
“Yes. But you don’t have to wake up yet.”
“Good. I don’t think I could fall back asleep if I did.” She kicked a spray of water upwards, watching the droplets splash back into the oasis again.
“What’s going on?”
Sharzad couldn’t tell if Nahida was genuinely curious or if she wanted to pretend to be a normal person (or a fabrication of Sharzad’s mind) instead. “Akademiya entrance exam results come out today. They’ll be in the mailbox by noon, and I—I don’t know if I got in.”
“I don’t think you need to worry so much. It’s a learning experience either way.” Nahida tilted her head at her. “Why do you want to go to the Akademiya?”
Sharzad blinked. What? “I need to. I need to be prepared for when I go out into the world. I need to understand how Teyvat works.” Prepare. Adapt. Overcome. Avoid improvisation unless absolutely necessary.
Don’t die .
That was the reason. Even if she wanted to go for her own curiosity, that wasn’t her main motivator, and Sharzad knew it. She’d spent five months studying for an entrance exam with the end goal of graduating from the Akademiya. Being a full-fledged researcher could give her the power to plan trips to the other nations, and help each one in turn. If the Traveller didn’t show up to Mondstadt, then she would. She’d play the game like she was its main character. No one deserved to suffer or die just because the Chosen One didn’t show up. So Sharzad was choosing herself.
A warm hand grabbed her shoulder. “People do this when they want to comfort each other, right?” Nahida asked her.
“Heh. Yeah.” Sharzad sighed. “I just—I don’t want to complain too much, but I don’t want an Akasha, either. But the Akademiya works with it, so I won’t be able to get my homework or anything without using it . . . I don’t want to stop dreaming.”
“Dreamless sleep does not mean you will stop dreaming. Everyone has motivations, end goals, realistic or not. You won’t stop dreaming, you’ll just stop seeing them in your sleep.”
“Like now.”
“Like now, unless the Akasha stops working. Whenever it does.”
Sharzad bit her lip. “Nahida, I-”
“You don’t have to tell me anything. Knowing what might happen is a very dangerous gift.” Nahida let go of her shoulder, bringing her fist to her chest, like she was holding something precious. “I’m sorry I can’t help you more than that.”
“I wish I could help you escape.” Was she crying? Sharzad couldn’t really tell whether the water streaming down her face was her tears or splashes from the oasis she stood in.
Nahida’s gaze was sad, too. “Everything will happen in time. Even if you won’t remember this dream, or this conversation, I hope you can at least remember that, Sharzad.”
~~~
Alhaitham took her on a trip to the outskirts of Sumeru City in the morning. It was clear he wanted an excuse not to work just as much as he wanted to distract her from the fact that her results were going to arrive that afternoon. Oh, and Kaveh definitely forced him to take her out, too.
They took the path to the east of the city, turning so they could hike along the edge of Chinvat Ravine. Calls from all sorts of creatures took up most of the sound, an indecipherable symphony that replaced the background music Sharzad knew from playing Genshin. She could occasionally make out a bird she was familiar with, or the specific sound of fungi interacting with one another, but for the most part, the cacophony was one she couldn’t understand.
Well, she wasn’t going into Amurta anyway, so that didn’t really matter at the moment.
“We can walk to the edge of the river,” Alhaitham suggested. “It should be empty enough to swim.”
“When should we get back?” Sharzad twisted a lock of her hair around her finger. “I don’t want Kaveh to wait too long.”
“He’ll be busy all day with unfinished commissions. We don’t have to worry.”
Really? No worrying? “You were worried about him last night.”
Sharzad watched the shift in Alhaitham’s expression, and the way his ears turned pink. “I was worried about him disrupting his sleep schedule. I’ve already put in a lot of work to keep him from going to bed at two every morning.”
Oh my gods he’s definitely fallen for Kaveh.
She’d had her suspicions, but she could rarely separate her own impressions of their bickering versus reality. For the past few months, she’d been under the impression that Alhaitham and Kaveh were just friends who liked to bicker; however, she’d been mentally tallying up the signs, and Alhaitham had just passed a sneaky test of hers. Whether Kaveh reciprocated was a much more difficult question to answer because he felt everything so fully , while Alhaitham’s subtleties were enough that, once Sharzad knew to recognize them, she could figure out what was normal or not for him.
And his affections for Kaveh were not normal Alhaitham behaviour.
Of course, Sharzad couldn’t do anything to get Alhaitham to confront his own feelings or speak to Kaveh about them, not without potentially ruining her current home situation, so the best she could do was sit back and watch the show.
As such, she spent her day with Alhaitham, returning home to Sumeru City as the sun began to dip lower in the horizon. The mailbox was empty when they arrived, a mystery quickly solved by the smell of spices and cooking chicken wafting through the house. Kaveh was cooking.
Sharzad rushed to his side once she’d cleaned up in the bathroom, peeking into the large plate to find it filled with biryani.
“Hey Sharzad! Had a nice day out?”
“Yep. I’ll tell you at dinner.” She looked down the counter, trying to see if there was mail anywhere. “Where’s my letter?”
Kaveh bumped her with his hip. “At your seat. You don’t have to read it aloud, but let us know what it says.”
Sharzad swallowed as she neared the table, picking up the green envelope—a staple of Akademiya stationery, if the pile of papers that colour on Alhaitham’s desk meant anything. Her attempt to slit it open failed miserably, and she ended up ripping a messy gash into the envelope rather than elegantly opening it.
She withdrew the envelope inside with a breath, reminding herself that the Akademiya never published entrance exam scores, only whether or not an individual made it in. Something about inviting questioning and perhaps even cheating since they rarely changed the exam itself, only the Darshan-specific questions and the open-ended problems.
Dear Sharzad,
We are delighted to inform you of your acceptance into the esteemed Sumeru Akademiya, with admittance to the Vahumana Darshan. Your entrance exam scores were commendable, and along with your dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, has earned you a place among the brightest minds in Teyvat.
As a member of the Vahumana Darshan, you will have the opportunity to delve deeply into the mysteries of Teyvat’s widespread history and culture, guided by some of the most respected scholars in our nation and beyond. We are confident that your time here will be intellectually stimulating and profoundly rewarding.
Please review the enclosed materials for important information about your enrollment and the upcoming semester. We look forward to welcoming you to our academic community and seeing the unique contributions you will bring to our illustrious school.
Congratulations once again, and welcome to the Sumeru Akademiya!
Warm regards,
Admissions Office
Sumeru Akademiya
She reread the letter three separate times before its contents finally sank into her thick skull. Five months of solid studying had paid off! Five months of preparation had led to this!
She threaded her fingers through her hair. “Accepted. Oh my God.”
“A singular God?” Alhaitham asked.
“Or many, but that’s not the point.” She beamed. “The point is I got in!”
Kaveh crushed her in a hug that smelled of cardamom and cumin. “Knew you could do it.”
When Sharzad looked expectantly at Alhaitham, he shrugged at her. “It was highly probable. I suppose I should congratulate you.”
“Really funny, but thank you.”
QUEST
Pass the Akademiya Entrance Exam
Objective Complete
Reward: Akademiya Map Unlocked, 500 Character EXP, 2000 Mora
Tutorial Complete! New skills unlocked. New Menu options unlocked.
Sharzad hid her reaction to those new pop ups until after dinner, when she sequestered herself in her room and opened up the menu, where she found several new buttons to click as well as the old ones.
Shop. Achievements. Archive. Character. Skills. Inventory. Quests. Map. Events. Wish. Settings.
Settings?
The strange button turned out to lead to audio settings only, including a place where she could activate background music. So if she wanted to listen to a boss fight’s music, she could. Awesome.
Disregarding the awfully simplified settings menu, she turned to the Wish menu, finding it quite similar to what it had been when she played Genshin, only the two character event wishes were replaced with . . . two weapon even wishes, complete with four-stars being promoted. Huh. And the standard banner was still there, but once again, weapons-only. Everything else looked similar to what she was used to, complete with the 160 primos price tag for a wish, so she guessed that she’d have to be careful about when she wished for weapons. She also noticed the timer on the banners—she had 17 days if she wanted a chance at either Haran Geppaku Futsu or Skyward Harp.
She shut the menu. She barely had enough primos for a ten pull, let alone the pity for anything better than that. She’d hold off until she saw a banner she actually cared about.
So, she shut the Wish menu and instead opened the strange, new Skills menu. This one was a set of smaller tabs, each labelled with Weapon, Element, and Other. Given the Weapons tab had a little red dot indicating something that she needed to review, Sharzad opened it first, finding another pop up, this time asking her to choose a weapon.
Choose? I get to choose?
The five Genshin weapons were in front of her, each displayed with nothing else to help her besides the text at the bottom that read a new weapon can be added when character is ascended to the next tier.
She was at level 6 as of three minutes before. So this choice would affect her level and fighting ability until she reached level 20 and successfully ascended herself (if that was even a thing).
It took her a moment’s consideration before she selected the sword as her weapon of choice. Alhaitham was a sword user close enough to her, and she wanted to ensure that her weapon would be easy to wield for someone of her stature. No shame to Kaveh, but Sharzad was nowhere near ready to wield a massive claymore like he could. Besides, a catalyst depended on magic, a bow required good marksmanship (which she didn’t have), and a polearm would be too big for her small body.
Maybe later she’d select something else.
You have unlocked the sword weapon and have been granted the two star weapon, Silver Sword! Train your weapon to level up your weapon and unlock special combat tactics and skills by training with certain individuals.
In a flash of light, a weapon appeared in her grasp. The Silver Sword was semi-familiar to her from various artworks, but she wasn’t entirely used to seeing it in front of her. Its blade was a pale blue colour, about half her size already.
Sharzad gripped the handle, holding it in front of her in a basic approximation of what she had seen in movies and video games. It felt comfortable in her hand despite being a rather foreign object to her. She gave it a few experimental swings before leaving it on her bed. Swords were heavy .
Meaning, until she started taking classes at the Akademiya, her next goal would be learning the basics of swordsmanship.
Notes:
Fun fact: Sharzad's acceptance letter is modeled after the ones I received for university, while the Akademiya entrance exam is basically my answer to "what if AP exams were twice as long and also 100% worse?"
Nahida has also entered the fray, though she will have to step back afterwards because of the Akasha, since Sharzad has no choice but to wear it. I think that, since Azar's plan in the Sumeru Archon quest included creating the mass dream samsara, the Akademiya would have attempted to get as many people to use the Akasha as they could, including making Akashas mandatory for all Akademiya students, even the younger ones.
Hope you enjoyed :)
Chapter 6: Prologue: The New Mentor
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your first semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
First-year Akademiya classes didn’t play around. Seriously—Sharzad came home after her first day with a surprisingly large amount of homework, including several readings about the past and present economic relationships between the regions of Teyvat. To top it off, even if she didn’t want to study economics, she had to take the class if she wanted to do any meaningful historic research (and complete the side quests that each gave her a decent amount of primogems for future wishes).
So, having quite a large amount of work to do, Sharzad decided to spend the next day (one where she had no classes) in the House of Daena, where she could study in relative peace. The peace was exceptionally true because the House of Daena was mostly empty. Apparently, most people used the Akasha Terminals rather than studying physical books, something Sharzad found stupid because the Akashas weren’t foolproof, right? Learning something through the Akasha wasn’t a guarantee that it would stick past a few days or weeks, and if Sharzad was going to travel Teyvat, she wouldn’t have the Akasha on her all the time. Self-sufficiency was key.
When the silence in the near-empty House of Daena became deafening, Sharzad decided to pack up her books and head outside to Razan Garden. This was a path higher up the Divine Tree accessible from several doors in the Akademiya’s main building, with gazebos and smaller gardens built into natural spaces in the Divine Tree’s trunk. And then, at the very top of this pathway, was the Sanctuary of Surasthana—Nahida’s prison.
Sharzad found an empty gazebo about halfway up the tree and sat against one of its support beams, pulling out her notes so she could read over what she’d managed to copy down in her lessons. Thankfully, she remembered enough about university that she adapted to the Akademiya’s faster pace relatively easily, unlike her classmates, many of whom had clearly never attended classes at the speed of the Akademiya’s lectures, and so were struggling to keep pace with the instructors. Most of these struggling students seemed to be international students, rather than Sumerian students, like Kirill, a boy in his mid-teens who came from Snezhnaya. She guessed that Sumeru’s education system, particularly in cities like Sumeru City and Port Ormos, was designed to prepare students for studying at the Akademiya. And, of course, in Sharzad’s case, she was used to university lectures, so she was fine.
After probably two hours of on-again-off-again studying, when her head began to pound from staring at the words on her page, Sharzad abandoned her work to look around the gardens instead. The late afternoon hour meant nothing to the number of people wandering Razan Garden and, if anything, the terraces were even more populated than when Sharzad had first arrived. In an attempt to avoid the worst of these crowds, she turned her attention upwards, wandering until she glimpsed the first of the Corps of Thirty responsible for protecting the Sanctuary of Surasthana and the waypoint two steps away from them.
She wandered her way away from the soldiers towards the nearest balcony, leaning on its edge as best she could in her ten-year-old body. The view here was of Yazadaha Pool and the lands south of the city, including mountains, trees, and, in the far off distance, the ocean. It was beautiful . . . the sunset and sunrise must be, too.
“Becoming a student here was worth it for the view alone,” she mumbled.
“I should hope that’s not the only reason you came here.”
Sharzad jumped at the unfamiliar, feminine voice. A glance sideways revealed a woman in her twenties. Her most notable feature, in Sharzad’s opinion, was her pale blue hair, which she’d tied in a ponytail adorned with golden pins shaped like Xs. Her eyes, too, were a strange shade of blue with a golden edge, but Sharzad had become used to seeing strange eye colours in Teyvat, so that was less surprising to her than the blue hair.
“It’s not the only reason.” Sharzad gestured at the view past the balcony. “I was just struck by the beauty. I’ve never been up here before.”
The woman hummed. “You’ll have several opportunities to study here. I personally preferred the silence of the library when I was a student, but I suppose it has become much more stifling ever since they moved all information about classes to the Akasha terminals. In my day, students didn’t have to use the Akasha if they did not want to.”
In her day? Sharzad turned to the view to hide her furrowed brows. The woman might be thirty at most . There was no need for her to use back in my day as a phrase. Given the hair and the strange use of language, Sharzad guessed that this woman was Faruzan.
“Times change, but not always for the better.” Sharzad sighed. “I don’t like the Akasha, either.”
“I noticed you don’t wear it.” The woman’s smile was faint, but present. “I suppose that means we must introduce ourselves to one another, don’t we? Since we don’t have it to tell us about each other.”
“Oh, right.” She pulled a strand of her hair so she could twist it around her fingers. “I’m Sharzad. From Vahumana.”
“I can see that.” The woman gestured to the yellow on Sharzad’s hat, and the Vahumana symbol—an hourglass with a horse behind it. “I’m Madam Faruzan, of the Haravatat Darshan.”
Same Darshan as Alhaitham. I’ll ask him about her sometime.
“Why don’t you become my student?”
Sharzad’s surprise lasted two seconds, until she remembered how in Genshin, Faruzan ran around trying to recruit people as her students. So, this made sense, actually, which was absolutely bonkers. Becoming a mentor for a student should require screening, discussions, not just a simple request because the potential student agrees with you on a thing or two.
But Faruzan didn’t seem to notice this, and she kept talking. “The difference in our Darshans means nothing to the potential things you could learn. I could tailor the material specifically to Vahumana’s tastes—what is it you want to study?”
“I think I just want to pass my classes for the moment.” Sharzad bit the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know about later, yet. It feels so far away . . .” she stared at the landscape beyond the city again, a visual representation of the sheer amount of time it would no doubt take until she graduated from the Akademiya and became a Dastur, or even just a simple Driyosh.
“It’s never too early to think ahead,” Faruzan declared. “And I’m certain , my expertise in ancient machinery could help you no matter what you end up studying in Vahumana.”
Sharzad contemplated this for a few seconds. It was true that she needed to think ahead. And it was true that she’d definitely run into some sort of ancient machinery or puzzles in the future of questing she’d chosen for herself. Faruzan’s expertise was certainly going to be helpful in some way. She just seemed a tad too desperate for students. Buuuuuuut, she would be a great ally. So maybe it would be better to trust in Faruzan, right? A few lessons a month wouldn’t do her harm if it meant Sharzad would get an extra education none of her classmates would be getting.
She swallowed, only to steel her own nerves. “Alright, Madam Faruzan, I’ll be your student.”
Achievement
Lessons to Learn - Find and meet a new mentor at the Akademiya
Collect reward in Achievements Menu? [YES]/[NO]
~~~
Faruzan waited for a whole week before she told Sharzad to meet her in her office in the Akademiya for their first lesson.
Sharzad was clearly the odd one out in the halls of Haravatat, being the only one with a band of gold around her uniform’s hat, a striking difference to the dark grey of Haravatat. She did her best to look like she knew what she was doing as she wandered past the older students who stared at her like she was either not supposed to be there or a particularly interesting specimen they’d like to study.
She ducked into Madam Faruzan’s office the moment she read the lettering on its door.
“Good morning Madam Faruzan!”
“Ah, you’re finally here. I thought you lost your way.”
Sharzad swallowed. “N-no! My da- guardian wanted my opinion on a commission he’s working on, that’s all. I’m sorry for being late.”
Faruzan made a little noise like a huff. “Well, I suppose I’ll overlook it just this once. This is your first lesson, after all.” She gestured to the chair on the other side of her desk. “Come, sit. We can’t expect to do anything like travelling to the rainforest for a more practical session if you don’t know the basics of puzzle-solving first.”
“Puzzle-solving?” Sharzad set her bag on the floor next to the chair. “You mean like elemental monuments?”
“In some cases, yes, but I thought we might focus on some more ancient Sumerian puzzles, which might come in handy during your later studies. Understanding desert puzzles would keep you from requiring a whole team of Kshahrewar students just to investigate a single site.” She scoffed lightly. “Assuming any of the modern Kshahrewar students even know what they’re doing. They might base their research on my own papers, but I doubt they’re half as decent as the Haravatat students from my time when it comes to deciphering Deshret-era puzzles.”
“Why, though?” Sharzad asked before she could stop herself. “Isn’t Kshahrewar the Darshan for puzzle solving?”
“Perhaps, but many of them focus more on the mechanism itself than the things built around them. Understanding language is just as important as understanding mechanisms when it comes to anything foreign or ancient.” Faruzan unrolled a scroll so it was facing Sharzad. “See, this is the Deshreti alphabet. It’s quite similar to the modern Teyvan alphabet in terms of structure, but the language itself is completely different, all the way down to grammar itself. Deshret’s people would even cut out vowels when writing if they were not necessary to understanding the sentences.”
Another language. Sharzad hoped that she’d get help from her little quest tabs, or else she’d be in hot water really soon. She’d absolutely sucked at learning languages in the past, but perhaps the game system would change things for her. Things would be easy if that was the case for everything.
“So, for the first part of our lessons, you’ll be learning the basics of Deshret’s language. I can hardly expect you to accurately solve any puzzles if you don’t understand the very language they’re made in.”
NEW QUEST
Ancient Languages
Learn to read Deshret script
Reward: 250 Character EXP, 2000 Mora, 20 Primogems
Sharzad nodded, before stopping and looking at Faruzan. “What about elemental monuments or torch puzzles?”
Faruzan hummed. “Those aren’t from Deshret’s civilization, and I’m certain you’ll figure them out on your own. No point in wasting precious time, not when you could be working on a monumental discovery!” She clapped her hands. “Now, I want you to practise writing out the letters in front of you. I find it’s more useful than simply memorising them.”
Sharzad nodded, taking a pen and a notebook from her bag. “Yes, Madam Faruzan.”
Over the course of the hour-long lesson, Sharzad painstakingly copied out the letters of the Deshreti alphabet, which ranged from easy (V was literally three big dots) to convoluted (N was a nightmare to sketch because of its weird shape).
“For homework, you’ll keep practising. I will have a short quiz for you this time next week, which will be our next lesson.”
Nodding several times and altogether not enthusiastic about heading out to the halls of Haravatat again, Sharzad packed up her things and left Faruzan’s office. In the mostly empty halls (classes were ongoing), she happened to take a wrong turn on her way to the House of Daena and had to turn back, walking through the halls at a slightly faster pace. She didn’t want to be stuck in the halls when classes changed.
This being the focus of her hurried thoughts, Sharzad didn’t notice that someone was following her until she heard the telltale clearing of a throat. A sound she unfortunately recognized as belonging to-
“Sharzad, what are you doing in Haravatat’s halls?” Alhaitham asked her.
Sharzad weighed her options. A) she could lie to Alhaitham and tell him she was wandering, or even lost her way while trying to find Razan Garden or some other strange place. B) she could tell the truth about her lessons with Faruzan and risk being told to stop studying under someone who wasn’t in her Darshan. Hmmmmm. Would he even care? Alhaitham was the person who’d been buying her books and teaching her things ever since the beginning, and he certainly didn’t seem to be the type who would care if she was getting lessons from someone in his own Darshan . . .
Clearly, her silence was too long, because Alhaitham narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t lie to me.”
Well, option B it is because he’s fucking terrifying . “I’m getting lessons from Madam Faruzan. She offered to teach me last week and, well, I accepted.”
“Hmm.” Alhaitham’s eyes narrowed further. “Could you explain why you looked ready to lie to me thirty seconds ago?”
Her heart beat faster. “I just—I didn’t want—I know I’m in Vahumana and she’s in Haravatat but she made some very convincing arguments about studying from other Darshans, and I thought, since her research kind of blends you and Kaveh’s domains, I might study with her?” She internally cringed at the cracks in her voice as she explained. Please don’t be mad. Oh, an angry Alhaitham would no doubt be terrifying , and she’d rather not experience it right now, especially not in the empty halls of Haravatat, surrounded by framed texts and chunks of ancient monuments preserved in glass cases.
“Okay.” Alhaitham nodded. “Your reasoning is sound, so I don’t mind. But , you know I’ll have to tell your father about this, right? He gets the final say.”
Sharzad hung her head. “Yes.”
He set his hand on her shoulder. “Classes end in three minutes. If you want to avoid the crowds, you should run now.”
Was that a smile on his face? Nah, it was probably just Sharzad’s relief at not being in trouble.
She started to run down the hall, hand reaching behind her in a vague approximation of a wave. “Thanks Alhaitham! Bye!”
~~~
“ Her? ”
“I don’t understand why you’re getting so worked up over this. It’s a simple mentorship, that’s all.”
Kaveh’s eyes bugged out at Alhaitham. “A mentorship about something we could teach her! Why didn’t she come to us instead of going to Faruzan? We expanded on parts of her research for years -”
Years spent slaving away at a project that never came to fruition. Years spent working together as their co-researchers gradually abandoned the project. Years of effort and study that culminated in a fight so massive that Kaveh sometimes couldn’t look Alhaitham in the eye because of what he had told him.
‘What’s the point of self-centred morality if it drives away everyone who’s ever cared about you? You’re all alone and it’s your fault.’
‘You’re so cruel, it’s no wonder you don’t have any friends.’
“Interacting with people outside her immediate family is important for her development. Madam Faruzan is quite an accomplished researcher, and her personality lends itself well to teaching someone like Sharzad.”
“Hmph. What do you know about personality?” Kaveh crossed his arms. “Last I checked, that’s not part of Haravatat’s domain.”
“It’s simply an observation of mine.”
Kaveh scoffed. “If that’s true, what other emotional things have you noticed, great scribe? That people smile when they’re happy?”
“That Sharzad sees herself as your daughter.”
The laugh of disbelief that left his mouth prevented any stunned silence. “That’s impossible.”
How would Alhaitham have even found this out? Sharzad—Sharzad as his daughter? No. Alhaitham had misinterpreted something else for an attachment that went beyond simple guardianship. He’d already tried to see something like that from Sharzad, but Kaveh hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary when it came to Sharzad’s behaviour. She was still the bright, studious, ever-curious child she’d been since Day One. No change there.
“I substituted your name for ‘your father’-” Alhaitham made air quotes. “-when I spoke to her earlier today. She didn’t even react.”
“You tricked her, probably. She just didn’t notice.”
“It’s more probable she didn’t notice because her brain categorised the phrase as truth.” Alhaitham leaned in, a surprising gesture from a man who didn’t like physical contact and preferred his personal space. His expression had turned to one with a teasing smile, the kind that Alhaitham knew infuriated Kaveh. “Face it, Kaveh. She thinks of you as her father. ”
“No. Not happening.” He grabbed his sketchpad from the desk and headed for the living room. “I have a commission rework to work on. My client wants the motifs changed because apparently birds aren’t acceptable to her.”
Kaveh marched out of the study, plopping down on one of the couches in the living room. He propped his sketchpad on his knees and got to work, redrawing the shop’s plans with a new motif in mind—butterflies. The scratching of his pencil on paper filled the air, percussion matched by Kaveh’s melodic humming. Butterfly wings appeared in motifs around the elegant columns holding up the building’s awning roof, while he sketched out brightly coloured flowers like padisarahs, rhododendrons, and orchids, messing around with the arrangements until he settled on a mix of flowers and bushes that would be pleasing to the eye.
Someone sat next to him.
“I’m staying here until you go to bed,” Alhaitham said.
“You’ll be here a while.”
“I don’t mind.” He cracked open his book and began to read.
Kaveh knew that Alhaitham did mind any disruptions to his precious sleep schedule, but he decided against speaking, reasoning that the relative peace was better than them arguing about something as trivial as Kaveh working.
And, when he woke up in Alhaitham’s arms the next morning, he didn’t mention that, either.
Notes:
Faruzan enters the chat. She's such an underrated (and underused, I think) Sumeru character and I find that disappointing since she's so interesting!
Okay, other things:
1) Faruzan is extremely eager for students in canon, especially students she finds connections to. Sharzad, with her dislike of the Akasha and appreciation for natural beauty, is someone Faruzan sees as perfect for a student.
2) A Driyosh is a traveling Akademiya student/scholar (think all the Sumerian NPCs in other nations), while a Dastur is a scholar that "has passed two theses through the review process" (Genshin Wiki). A single thesis is enough to graduate from the Akademiya but that timeline is kind of all over the place so Sharzad herself has a ton of time.
3) The Deshret language is supposedly based off Ancient Egyptian, so I'm using that as a baseline (although the Deshreti alphabet corresponds to actual English letters so it's kind of weird).
Also, Kaveh is a poor oblivious boy and Alhaitham is having way too much fun teasing him :)
Hope you enjoyed!
Chapter 7: Prologue: First Blood
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your first semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
As the weeks went by and her first semester of Akademiya studies ended, Sharzad had a lot of time to reflect on the goings on from the past few months.
Besides the content of her classes themselves—economics, an overview of Sumerian history post-Cataclysm, and an introduction to methods of historical research—things at the Akademiya were mostly quiet. Sharzad didn’t really have any close friends from her classes, a fact she mostly attributed to her age and thus perceived maturity, although she still had some sort of friendship with people like Kota, who was from Inazuma, and Isabela, from Fontaine, who were part of the same study groups as her and seemed interested in the archaeological history of their own nations.
Hearing the stories of Enkanomiya and Remuria from them was a vastly different experience from hearing it through playing Genshin Impact.
Meanwhile, her weekly lessons with Faruzan were slowly but surely bearing some sort of fruit—Sharzad could understand Deshret-era phrases commonly used in puzzle-making. Faruzan had introduced diagrams of certain mechanisms like Replicator Keystones and Plinths of the Secret Rites, showing how certain parts of puzzles required mechanical keys or specific elemental reactions before they could be solved. Given the hints Faruzan dropped, the plan was to eventually venture into the rainforest for a practical lesson, and perhaps even take longer trips to the desert during the gap semesters Sharzad planned on taking like most people did.
Oh, also, despite having chosen the sword as her weapon, Sharzad clearly had no innate ability to swing her sword around, nor any innate endurance to use it for a long period of time. Her practice sessions with the Silver Sword lasted mere minutes for months at a time, kept short by the lack of muscles in her entire upper body. It turned out that swordsmanship required more than just brute arm strength, including efficient use of the muscle in her core, back, and chest (among others). Days of muscle pain after a few intense sessions with her sword had convinced her to take baby steps, and so instead of just blindly swinging her sword, she’d pivoted to regular workouts every few days.
When her sword felt lighter in her hands and her swings felt a little more sure, she began turning her gaze to getting a better weapon, diligently checking her banners whenever they reset—not every 21 days, but every 28, on the day of the new moon. The longer period to get what she wanted would have been a blessing had primogems not been extremely difficult to earn in sufficient amounts. There were no chests in Sumeru City, and she wasn’t about to leave it when she couldn’t defend herself properly, so small quests that gave her 10 to 20 primos and earning certain achievements were her only way to gain the currency.
The banner reset again during her finals for her first semester, and when she finally opened it after completing the first part of Wisdom’s Pathway (which was a very long quest chain, from the look of it), she found that the main weapons on the banners were Primordial Jade Cutter, a sword, and Hunter’s Path, a bow.
A quick inspection of Primordial Jade Cutter revealed that it would both increase her HP and give her an ATK bonus, both of which would be quite useful. This was possibly the best sword she’d seen yet, and considering that having a sword on the event banners wasn’t guaranteed, she decided to try to pull for the Primordial Jade Cutter.
First ten pull—Dragon's Bane, not great, but usable. Several 3 stars as good level up material.
Second ten pull—Xiphos’ Moonlight. A good sword. EM buff, although she had no element to use at the moment.
Third ten pull—Favonius Greatsword. She was not going near claymores with a ten foot pole (sorry Kaveh!). So shut up and give her the correct weapon.
Fourth and fifth—two copies of the Widsith. Not useful at the moment. Fuck off.
Sixth—Favonius Sword. Not bad, but not great either. At least it was another sword for once.
Her seventh pull turned gold.
Yes yes yes yes yes yes-
It wasn’t Primordial Jade Cutter. It was Skyward Harp.
“ Shit! ” she exclaimed out of frustration. She didn’t have enough primos for another guarantee. Was it worth it to build pity just in case?
Sharzad bit her lip, reminding herself of the perks from the Primordial Jade Cutter. Yes. This was absolutely worth spending the last of her primos saved over the past year—enough for two ten pulls and three others. Ugh. This was going to be a big risk that wasn’t going to pay off-
One more Xiphos’ Moonlight, a Favonius Lance, and several three stars were her reward for risking everything. That was horrible. Fuck that. No.
Still seething from the loss, she decided to equip Xiphos’ Moonlight and upgrade it as best she could. For the time being, it’d be her best bet as a weapon to use, so she refined it with the extra copy she’d pulled and brought it up to level 20, which she couldn’t surpass because she didn’t own the necessary materials—items earned by exploring the desert and beating domains. Stupid goddamn restrictions on her movement. She’d barely enhanced her artefacts (an entire Adventurer’s set plus a Lucky Dog circlet she’d rolled particularly well on) to a suitable level! And those were crap artefacts she found through those little Investigation spots that spawned around Sumeru City! Compared to her old team—which included her level 90 Shenhe and Kazuha—Sharzad was laughably weak.
So, all in all, her current state? Horrible.
Fuck this shit.
~~~
About two days into her two week break (the Akademiya was extremely strict about maintaining a 4 month per semester schedule), Kaveh and Alhaitham decided to surprise her.
Sadly, this surprise wasn’t them finally stopping their pining and starting to date (Sharzad was 60% sure it wouldn’t happen for another year), but instead a very lovely breakfast and-
“Happy birthday!”
She stopped in her tracks, halfway through the door to the kitchen. “What? No. It’s the 19th of September, not-”
No. Your old life is gone. Shut it out.
She’d come to terms with it already, had struggled enough in the first few weeks to separate her astonishment at the world of Teyvat from her memories of Earth. Oh, sure, sometimes she’d be taken aback by mentioning something that wasn’t a thing in Teyvat, or addressing someone she vaguely remembered from Earth, but generally speaking, she understood that she had died and had been given a new life, so there was no point in moping about the past. She was Sharzad now, no way to reverse that.
“Exactly one year ago, Cyno brought you to our home,” Alhaitham said. “Since you don’t remember your actual birthday, we figured we’d make this day yours. Although I still believe birthdays are excessive at times, I guess I can make an exception just this once.”
Our home , he’d said. Sharzad hadn’t missed that bit. Or the next. An exception.
“So, what do you want to do today?” Kaveh practically bounced on his feet as he finished buttering his toast. “There’s no plan, so you get to choose.”
After considering her options (while preparing her own slices of toast), Sharzad turned to the table. “Could we go to Mawtiyima Forest? I’ve heard the mushrooms there are enormous. ”
“I don’t see why not. It’s only an hour and a half or so away.” Smiling, Kaveh passed her the jam—raspberry flavoured, thank God (there were a few flavours Sharzad found revolting that Kaveh somehow adored). “It would be nice to see them in person.”
Alhaitham hummed. “I’ll prepare something to eat while we’re there.”
Scarcely an hour later, they were walking out of Sumeru City, taking the road northwards until they eventually reached the edge of Mawtiyima Forest. Sharzad’s feet positively ached from all the walking, but she kept her mouth shut as they scaled a small hill with a waypoint on top. Not because of the waypoint, but because the view of the giant glowing mushrooms would be nicer from a higher vantage point.
Two seconds after they sat down to rest, Kaveh whipped out his sketchbook, occasionally glancing up at the expanse of gargantuan mushrooms while he sketched them out. Sharzad didn’t miss Alhaitham’s soft smile as he watched Kaveh recreate the view in front of them, but instead of saying anything, directed her attention to the nearby waypoint.
Touching her palm to it, she closed her eyes and took a breath. The pulse of energy from the waypoints she activated was a foreign sensation, since she’d only ever activated two other waypoints and a Statue of the Seven, and she wasn’t a fan of it yet. Ley Line energy coursed through her veins, reinvigorating her for mere moments before fading. In a burst of light, the formerly red waypoint floated up about a foot off the ground, now glowing bright blue.
Kaveh and Alhaitham, thankfully, didn’t seem to notice her handiwork, so Sharzad took the opportunity to move closer to them and flop onto the grass. What a beautiful day to stare directly at the sky— nope there’s the fucking sun blinding me argh why ?
She rolled onto her side, and then onto her stomach because her side wasn’t very comfortable. Propping herself onto her shoulders gave her a good view of the hill as it slowly dipped down towards the ground, finally vanishing from view. Colourful wildflowers, ranging from pale blues to yellows to whites and pinks, grew in patches all over the hillside and hilltop. Their mixed perfumes filled the warm air in a mix that Sharzad didn’t particularly like. Too many clashing odours at once to be enjoyable by any reasonable person, in her opinion.
Yet, there were enough flowers to test whether she remembered how to braid flower crowns—from a Tumblr post she’d seen in tenth grade and proceeded to copy every opportunity she got. Quickly making up her mind, Sharzad stood and began collecting all the flowers she saw, even those whose names she didn’t know (which was most of them).
“What are you doing?” Alhaitham asked as she set her armful of flowers on the ground near him. Hilariously, Kaveh didn’t seem to notice anything but the landscape in front of him.
“Flower crown.”
“Hmm.”
She sat next to him, taking care not to lean too much against him. A year was more than enough to understand that Alhaitham generally appreciated his own personal space. Except when Kaveh was involved, given the moments of brief hand-touches, cuddling, and other touching she’d witnessed (mostly without either adult knowing she noticed).
The sounds of Kaveh’s pencil scratching across paper and of all manner of birds chirping in the distance accompanied them as they sat on the hilltop. Sharzad braided the flowers painstakingly slowly, until she finally got into the rhythm and began working slightly faster. It took her at least an hour, but she had a complete flower crown in her lap, and several shredded flowers from braiding attempts that failed.
“There. Done.”
Without warning, Alhaitham reached down and plucked the flower crown from her lap, holding it high above her head for a single, teasing moment before finally dropping it on top of her light brown hair. Her attempt to stifle her laughter failed spectacularly, and she burst into full giggling as Alhaitham watched, smiling a surprising amount (meaning you could kind of tell he was smiling even if you didn’t know him well enough).
Kaveh, however, was still too engrossed in his work to notice, another normal thing. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Kaveh tended to hyperfocus on architecture-related things, and while Sharzad was smarter than the average person (thanks in part to being reincarnated into a child’s body and also the game system), she was no genius. This, however, still meant she met the mental qualifications to notice Kaveh’s tendency to hyperfixate, so, as expected, Sharzad noticed it. And, given that neither she nor Alhaitham wanted to disrupt Kaveh, they left him alone until he finally dropped his pencil.
Stretching his limbs towards the sky, Kaveh looked around, only now noticing how the sun had flown overhead and now began its journey down to the horizon once more. “Huh? Wait, where did the time . . . go?” He blinked at the sight of the flower crowns in both Alhaitham and Sharzad’s hair (Sharzad had made a second one).
“We were just packing up lunch,” Alhaitham said. He passed Kaveh his sandwich. “Here. Eat. We’ll leave when you’re done.”
Kaveh gave a nod and began to eat his food; Sharzad took the opportunity to stand and wander close to the edge of the hill. She could only see the parts of Mawtiyima Forest where the sunlight hit, displaying the vibrantly coloured fungi that lived deep within. On occasion she spotted the furry heads of hilichurls, or the capes of abyss mages, but most of the creatures she could see were either normal for a rainforest or fungi. The live kind, not the mushrooms and other organisms kind (although she saw plenty of those, too).
They set off for Sumeru City just a little while later, taking the road down the hill and away from Mawtiyima Forest. Generally speaking, the roads were empty, but this situation changed when they reached a river. This river had always been there, and there was a sizable gap of water they needed to cross to get to the other side. Now, the road was well-travelled enough that there was a small bridge across the river, but this wasn’t the issue with the situation.
The issue was the gang of hilichurls who had set up camp at one end of the bridge. A gang of hilichurls who just so happened to notice Sharzad and her family before they could leave the area unseen.
Alhaitham whipped out his sword without a second thought. The green blade glowed despite the daylight as he held it in a battle stance. “Stay behind me,” he warned.
Sharzad scanned the group of hilichurls: there were five normal ones with clubs or no weaponry, two red ones with crossbows who appeared to be halfway through setting up a tower, one of those little Dendro wizard guys with a comically large club, and a very big one with an axe (could she remember their names? Fuck no). That was a lot of enemies, and she wasn’t entirely sure Alhaitham could take them on his own without serious injury.
She heard the unsheathing of a weapon as Kaveh took out his claymore. But wait—he didn’t have a vision! What would happen if-
A horrible squelching noise filled the air as Alhaitham sliced through one of the hilichurls’ necks. Sharzad forced herself to continue looking even as blood splattered across the ground and the hilichurl fell. Its fellows redoubled their attacks, and as Alhaitham slashed across another with Dendro energy, the big one charged, its axe glowing with actual, real fire. Then came the vines from the wizard guy, which kept Alhaitham from advancing towards one of the crossbow boys. Kaveh, meanwhile, danced around the little wizard guy with surprising agility for someone wielding a claymore, barely avoiding the thorny vines that sprouted from the ground around him.
Well shit. I can’t leave them alone.
She summoned Xiphos’ Moonlight, finding that, the moment she grasped it, she could see the battlefield in a different manner. Now, the hilichurls, Alhaitham, and Kaveh had small green lines floating above their heads, lines that changed as hits landed. Sharzad couldn’t see her own health bar yet but she was sure it’d appear whenever she would sustain an injury.
Wait. Injuries. I have to hurt people. I don’t want to hurt any-
Impact. Burning pain. She screamed before she factored in what exactly had hit her.
A burning arrow. From one of the fiery hilichurls. Embedded in her upper arm.
Her health bar appeared in front of her, dropping from full to three-quarters from a single impact. The flower crown in her hair tumbled off her head, falling to the ground as she frantically turned her head toward the source of her pain.
“ SHARZAD!”
Kaveh had heard her scream. Oh, shit.
Against her better judgement, Sharzad ripped the burning arrow from her bicep. The sheer agony that burned through her flesh sent her muscles spasming, nerves aflame from both fire and the actual projectile. She gritted her teeth to keep from calling out again, fully aware that Kaveh would only panic more than he already was.
Through the haze of pain, she spotted the hilichurl who’d shot her loading a second burning arrow.
Sword. Fight. Go fight it.
She swallowed. The distraction of pain prevented her from judging how far the hilichurl was and whether she’d be able to run over without injuring herself further. “ Architect’s Scion .”
The world burst into brighter colours, now outlined in a gridlike pattern, a map overlaying the actual world. Five metres. Not far.
She sidestepped as the hilichurl drew back its crossbow, narrowly missing a second arrow.
Still bleeding from her right arm, she rushed forward, drawing her sword across the space in front of her as soon as she was close enough to the hilichurl to hit its crossbow. The snap of the crossbow’s string breaking was lost in the sound of the hilichurl’s yelps as Sharzad kicked it backwards into the grass.
It stumbled back, leaving Sharzad to erroneously think oh, I can stop now.
She received a claw directly to the face, which stopped (thankfully) right above her eyebrow, having drawn a small set of lines on her forehead rather than a massive scar across her whole face. Her body reacted before she did, slicing across its bare chest with her sword. The hilichurl’s health bar dropped, but not fast enough, for it clawed at her again, this time tearing a gash into her forearms.
I can’t beat him on my own. I’m going to die here-
A burst of green light filled her vision, and the hilichurl fell, green light coursing through its body like an electric shock for only a moment. It dropped, if not dead, then completely unconscious.
Sharzad searched the area for her saviour, finding Kaveh there, dropping his claymore as he caught from the air a green, glowing, vision. Oh. Shit.
“Don’t move,” he ordered as he took his claymore up again, securing his vision on his belt before he took out the next hilichurl who came to play—the last of the normal ones—with another burst of Dendro energy.
Alhaitham, meanwhile, took out the big guy with a volley of green light Sharzad vaguely recalled was his burst—she’d never actually pulled Alhaitham because she’d lost the 50/50 both times she tried. He sheathed his sword, wiping his brow with his other hand as he did so.
With the hilichurls defeated, the woods, which had been eerily silent ever since the first scream, slowly began to regain their noise. On the ground, right where Sharzad had started, her flower crown lay trampled in the grass, mere feet away from bleeding, hopefully unconscious and not deceased, hilichurls.
Immediately, Kaveh turned his attention to Sharzad, eyes narrowed and quite a large frown on his face. “I can’t believe you would do something so—so dangerous!” His voice was as borderline to yelling as it could get. “It shot you and you decided that the correct way to deal with the situation was to pull a sword out and attack it?! When did you even get a sword?”
“I’m sorry, but I wasn’t about to let that thing keep shooting at me!” She tossed her sword back into her inventory, effectively making it disappear. “Especially not after I got this-” she gestured at her still-bleeding wound and the blood dripping down her arm with her other hand. “-from a burning arrow! Do you see how much I’m bleeding?”
“There wouldn’t have been blood in the first place if you just left the arrow in! ”
Sharzad gritted her teeth, suddenly feeling very foolish but refusing to show it. “Well, I’m sorry , Dad, but the arrow was on fire and I’d rather be bleeding a ton than get third degree burns! Besides, how was I supposed to know what to do if I’ve never had combat training—why are you staring at me like I’ve grown three heads? Is the scratch on my face that bad?”
Unbothered by everything, Alhaitham knelt at her side, wrapping her wounded arm with a piece of blue-green cloth ripped from his own cloak. “He’s staring at you because you called him ‘Dad’.”
“Oh, um.” She looked over at Kaveh again, biting her lip. She hadn’t wanted to do anything embarrassing, but apparently, she’d managed it anyway. “Is that okay? I’ll never do it again if you want me to.”
“No, no.” Kaveh ran a hand through his blond hair, revealing several new scratches on the sides of his arms. “That’s perfectly fine.” He sighed. “ But you’re grounded until the end of your break.”
Embarrassment forgotten, Sharzad gaped at him. “What?! Why?”
“For doing something as stupid as rushing into battle without any training.” Kaveh crossed his arms. “You’re grounded, and you’ll be taking lessons on basic sword fighting with Alhaitham. Because while I hope you don’t ever fight hilichurls again, something tells me that you will .”
Notes:
Few notes as always:
1. Sharzad's luck on the weapons banner is the same as mine lol, and I thought it'd be more fun to have her wait to get a 5 star sword rather than just give her one
2. Sharzad's official birthday is September 19
3. Sharzad's skill "Architect's Scion" is inspired by Kaveh's Elemental Burst, which does a kind of grid survey on the game in the animation. Since I thought it was cool, Sharzad gets a modified version of it that allows her to accurately measure distances around her within a certain radius and visualize her own movement at higher levels
4. Kaveh's vision story changes here, because a) I wanted to give him his vision earlier and b) I think it fits his character here that one of his greatest ambitions, born of a moment of panic and protective anger, is raising (and protecting) Sharzad
Sooooo, yeah, fun chapter, and the plot will accelerate soon, so the prologue might only end up being fifteen chapters or so (about 20 in total for the pre-Archon quest storyline)
Hope you enjoyed! :)
Chapter 8: Prologue: Lessons in Different Subjects
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your second semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
“Again.”
Sharzad shook out her arms. “But Alhaitham! ” Her voice was a tired whine. “I have homework!”
He raised an eyebrow barely a centimetre upwards. “You have a single assignment you could do in your sleep. I’d hardly call that ‘homework’.”
“Ugh, I regret telling you about it earlier today.” She wanted to press her hands to her temples, but unfortunately her arms felt like Jell-O after the dozens of drills Alhaitham had made her do.
“Hmm. Now, do that combination again.”
Sharzad sighed, bringing Xiphos’ Moonlight up in front of her again. Weeks of stance correction from Alhaitham meant that she easily slipped into a comfortable fighting stance, holding her weapon in front of her, pointing diagonally at the sky.
Alhaitham crossed his arms. “Go.”
She forced back her groan. So demanding.
But, she performed the combo as asked: slash one way, slash the other, chop downwards, block, slash again. Unlike him, she didn’t get a flashy combat style. She didn’t get kicks or flips or fancy turns when she brandished a sword, only simple cuts, thrusts, and other moves using her sword and nothing else.
In Alhaitham’s opinion, she wasn’t ready for a real spar, not when she couldn’t sufficiently improvise when something came up. Terrain shifts (if he ever changed their lesson site from the hills just outside Sumeru City) or even a simple opening for making up her own combos left her flustered and faltering, something Sharzad had tried to stop doing to no avail. Giving her leeway caused her anxiety to spike, because then, if she got injured, if she made a mistake, it was entirely her fault.
Stop being such a baby, Sharzad. He wants you to fight. Fight.
Then there was the whole bit about hurting sentient life. Genshin had been clear several times in the lore that hilichurls had culture—and were the former Khaenri’ahns—while Eremites and Treasure Hoarders were actual people. Sharzad didn’t want to kill anyone, or any thing , if you took slimes and fungi into consideration too, among other things. Of course, Alhaitham harped on how preserving her own well-being meant that killing things was necessary whenever he taught her, but he didn’t know about the hilichurls’ connection to Khaenri’ah. And no one who did know about it knew she did.
Alhaitham didn’t give her room to breathe much longer. “You have five seconds to come up with your own combination. Go.”
“Oh my-”
Slash first? Or a cut? No, a slash is a better opener. And then a block? Or a chop? Slash, chop, block-
Something hard struck her sword, sending it clattering to the floor in a tumble of blue-gold-blue.
Alhaitham lowered his sword. “You’ve been standing there for thirty seconds. In that time, I would have slashed you so many times that even if I hadn’t hit a major artery, you’d be dead.”
She glared at him. “Maybe if it was a real spar , I wouldn’t have struggled. ”
“Anger won’t serve you in a conflict. You need to be calm and collected to even hope to successfully defeat an opponent. Find the weakest link and its cause, and the battle will be over in seconds.”
Sharzad considered her options for two seconds before choosing anger. Fuck common sense, Alhaitham was annoying.
Reaching down to grab her sword, she whipped it at Alhaitham in a flash. His sword came up to meet her. Block. Parry. Slash. He was taller, stronger than she was, but she had speed on her side, and so she surely could show him that she was better-
Green beams of light so thin they could have been lasers surrounded her on all sides. She froze the moment she noticed the glow of Alhaitham’s vision. This was his work. His vision. His power.
“That’s not fair!” She exclaimed.
“No fight is fair.” Alhaitham dropped his hand, vanishing the Dendro lasers. He peered at her for one second before turning away. “I think you’ve had enough for today.”
“But-!”
“Unless you can keep your cool when things don’t go your way, there’s no point in continuing. You might understand the techniques, but you let your anxiety and anger distract you. That will get you killed if you don’t fix your behaviour. Spend more time on your opponent's flaws and you'll fight less. Perhaps you won't even have to fight at all. Otherwise, you waste time and energy in a battle you might not be able to handle.”
~~~
“Now, to speak of the founding of Sumeru’s early civilization requires a bit of preamble on the subject of the three god-kings of Sumeru: Deshret, Nabu Malikata, and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata. For those of you from Sumeru, this tale will sound familiar; however, we’ll be delving into the real history behind the legends in order to build a good foundation for the rainforest civilization.”
Professor Gulnaz was a well-respected sage in the Akademiya, a Herbad who had released several academic treatises and conducted a frankly astounding amount of research over the course of her career as a Vahumana researcher. According to Kaveh when he went over Sharzad’s course selection for her second semester, she was one of the leading authorities on the history of the Three God-King period.
Sharzad, who really just wanted to learn more about Sumeru’s long history, took the class on the God-Kings partly because Faruzan recommended familiarising herself with the era of Deshret and partly because she could practise reading and writing Deshret language by studying documentation and artefacts from that period . Also because the subject interested her. That was kind of a big selling point.
This class, being one of four Sharzad was taking this semester, was marketed as being a necessary foundation for all other classes on the history and culture of the Three God-King era. Vahumana’s dedication to the study of aetiology was no joke, meaning that knowledge of the potential causes and effects of everything ranging from culture to historical events in your chosen time period was key to success in the Darshan. Many first and second year foundation classes were about scanning over key periods of Sumerian or Teyvan history, ensuring that students had a solid, though simplified, understanding of Teyvat’s long history that would serve them no matter the things they decided to study.
That was according to Ezhil, the Sage of Vahumana, in his opening speech to the first year students. Sharzad wasn’t entirely sure what he really meant, but at least it made sense at face value.
“We aren’t from Haravatat,” Professor Gulnaz said at a later session of their class. “However, I would recommend you attempt to learn a language pertaining to what you want to study. For instance, the Dahri language, or one of the ancient Inazuman languages. It is easier to conduct your own research if you’re familiar with the language from your chosen culture or period of history.”
Sharzad considered herself extremely lucky that she did know an ancient language, no matter how rudimentary her knowledge of Deshreti was. One less language to focus on learning, right?
“For those of you I see being sceptical, let me present a finding from not too long ago—a fragment suspected from the Scroll of Streaming Song, an ancient story from the Three God-King era.” She began passing out sheets of paper covered with the same printed text, waiting until everyone had one before continuing. “Look at it. Can you understand it? No. Because unless you had a Haravatat researcher with you, this artefact’s true historical significance would be unknown to you until you returned to the Akademiya. The time spent returning could irreparably damage this artefact. Now, I can recite to you a translation of this fragment, unless one of you would like to attempt to.”
Professor Gulnaz stared impressively at her students, the look in her eyes the type that said I have never had a student get this right, and I’m definitely expecting none of you to get it right.
Taking this as a challenge, Sharzad raised her hand.
“Go ahead, Sharzad.”
Clearly, Professor Gulnaz expected nothing of value, but Sharzad knew differently. She’d been studying with a Haravatat researcher adamant on her learning Deshreti, and her father was Kaveh Athari, a former researcher of the Deshreti civilization. Not to mention Alhaitham, who was from Haravatat and a former researcher of the Deshreti language.
“ Thus, the Mistress of Pushpe- Pushpavatika spoke:
‘Praise be to the Winged One, lord over all the kingdoms of the land.’
‘I am a spirit created at the beginning, I am a flickering illusion, I am the shimmering light that flows from the eyes of the creator.’
‘People in far-flung lands sing proud- praises of your wisdom. I wonder then if you could help me to unravel something that has long bewildered me?’
‘I will give you these spices, gold, and precious stones as a sym- token of my appreciation if you can solve my three riddles.’ ”
She vaguely recognized the passage from a day spent with Kaveh, one of the rare ones where had no commissions to complete, and could thus spend his time reading with his daughter instead. When she’d brought up her studies of Deshreti, he had run and found one of his old notebooks from his student days amidst boxes in his family home (which Sharzad had never actually visited in all her time in Sumeru City). The notebook was packed with copied passages from the documents he and Alhaitham had studied, complete with translations on the other page. He’d copied down most of the discovered Scroll of Streaming Song fragments, including this one, and had read it to her in the old Deshreti and in Teyvan.
Sharzad liked hearing Kaveh speak Deshreti. It sounded natural coming from him, though he told her many times that “I only learned this for research, so don’t expect it to be any good.” Often, if she had questions about pronunciation, he’d send her to Alhaitham, because “he actually knows what he’s talking about. Nerd.”
Clearly, Professor Gulnaz thought Sharzad had some idea about what she was talking about, because her expression was one of clear surprise, if only for a few moments. Then her face shifted to something more neutral, like interest or curiosity.
“See me after class, Sharzad.”
The statement made her blood run cold. Had she done something wrong? No, that couldn’t be. So what had happened? Sharzad nervously chewed the inside of her lip for the rest of the lecture, until Professor Gulnaz promptly kicked out the rest of the class and walked to Sharzad’s desk, leaning over the table so she could peer directly into her eyes. Her gaze was strong, and it made Sharzad feel as though Professor Gulnaz was attempting to reach into the far corners of her mind to pluck out the answers she sought.
“Have you studied Deshreti before, Miss Athari?”
Her voice was low and calm, like she was just asking a simple question. But a little thing about her statement raised an alarm bell.
Last name? No one in Sumeru uses last names in anything besides official matters, like mail or government identification. Sharzad swallowed. What’s going on?
“I’m taking lessons with Madam Faruzan. She’s teaching me some Deshreti so I can decipher puzzles without requiring a team of Haravatat and Kshahrewar students when I conduct my own research.”
“Ah.” Another flash of emotion, this one something Sharzad couldn’t decipher. Understanding? Confusion? Acceptance? “Well done, anyhow. I hope you’ll keep practising your Deshreti over the course of this semester, Sharzad. You may go.”
Oh, so the last name thing was a slip. Relieved, Sharzad left the classroom, intending on a visit to the House of Daena for a short study session, maybe with a few classmates.
NEW QUEST
Faruzan’s Invitation
Go to Faruzan’s office.
Reward: 100 Character EXP, 20 Primogems
Ah, the game’s favourite pastime—bribing her with tiny, random quests that gave her a few primogems. Without things like the Statues of the Seven and chests (she’d collected all the Dendroculi and chests in Sumeru City and its surrounding rainforest that she could), she needed a better source of primos. Thankfully, her game system seemed to understand this, and had been slowly giving her more primogems for weapons pulls, though not enough to warrant constantly pulling on the banner. Maybe when she would be old enough to join the Adventurers’ Guild she could earn a more steady income of primos.
Accepting the quest was an automatic thing, so Sharzad turned from the path to the House of Daena towards Haravatat’s wing of the Akademiya. She found Faruzan’s office in a few minutes, giving the door a short knock before entering the room.
What she found were familiar heads of blond and grey hair facing away from her, and Faruzan conversing with these two people rather enthusiastically. She turned from them briefly to smile at Sharzad.
“. . . though it’s never too early to consider what she’ll be doing over the course of her vacation period. I’m sure a short trip to the desert’s ruins will be beneficial to Sharzad’s education.”
“I’m going to the desert?” Sharzad asked.
Kaveh jumped at the sound of her voice. He stood close enough to Alhaitham that his jump nearly launched him directly into Alhaitham’s arms, something that Sharzad couldn’t help smirking at.
“What are you doing here?” Kaveh asked. “You’re supposed to be in class!”
“Class ended ten minutes ago. I stopped by to check if Madam Faruzan had anything for me before the weekend.” Sharzad raised an eyebrow. “I guess you do, Madam Faruzan?”
“Indeed.” Faruzan gestured to Kaveh and Alhaitham. “As I was telling your fathers-”
“No no no, we’re not married or anything,” Kaveh said, frantically waving his hands in front of himself.
He was turned away from Sharzad now, but she could easily imagine his expression. She smirked even more at the sight of Alhaitham’s ears reddening. So he was embarrassed about it, like he’d thought about marrying Kaveh before. Awwww.
“ Really? Hmm, I thought you kept it private, but that doesn’t really matter at the moment.” Faruzan pointed at a map on her desk; Sharzad approached to see it better. “There are uncharted ruins in the vicinity of Aaru Village. I wished to take you on a short expedition there over your semester of break—two weeks at most—so you could experience the ruins and their mechanisms first hand. Your . . . guardians seemed a little apprehensive.”
“Why?”
“Sharzad, you are not going to the desert, not when there are monsters literally everywhere, ” Kaveh said. “Do you remember how Cyno found you?”
Sharzad could remember it like it was minutes before, probably because of the whole mercenaries-are-capturing-me-and-I-don’t-understand-their-language part of the ordeal. “But I can fight, Dad!”
“You can swing a sword. What you can’t do is improvise , and until you can do that, I’m not letting you go to the desert.” Kaveh held a hand out. “No offence to you, Madam Faruzan, but it’s impossible for anyone to defeat a pack of Eremites on their own, even if they’re a vision bearer.”
“Hmph!” Faruzan crossed her arms with a huff. “You should be respectful to your elders. I’ve had my vision for years.”
“It doesn’t matter if Madam Faruzan can defeat an army or not,” Alhaitham said. “There are plenty of ways Sharzad could get injured, hurt, or worse out in the desert. It’s unwise to have her go now, when she still has plenty to learn about basic survival skills.”
Sharzad’s heart sank. Alhaitham hadn’t even looked at her when he spoke! Did I really mess up that badly?
“I’ll be taking her out to the rainforest myself during her vacation. You are more than welcome to join us, Madam Faruzan, but there will be very few puzzles and a lot more monster slaying.”
Kaveh balked at the idea. “Haitham, you say she can barely use a sword-”
“ Kaveh. ” When Alhaitham wrapped his hand around Kaveh’s arm, the architect fell silent. “Practical lessons may be the best way to handle this. I’ll take her out myself and see, but if she manages to fend for herself against any monsters—fungi, slimes, even a ruin mechanism—then we’ll let her go next year.
Despite her instinct to protest that she was only eleven and shouldn’t be attempting to kill monsters, Sharzad was astute enough to realise that this protest would block all hope of ever going to the desert and exploring the world, so if she wanted to do something like going to Mondstadt, she needed to start small. With fungi or something.
Urgh, she was already not looking forward to it.
Notes:
Poor, anxious Sharzad can't improvise to save her life, even after a ton of training, lol
Few notes for the chapter, as always:
1) The Wisdom's Pathway quest is officially a quest chain, with each individual quest lasting a semester at the Akademiya. It's both a motivator (not that Sharzad needs it) and a source of those amazing primos
2) We don't have an official name for Deshret's civilization, so I've decided to use the term Deshreti when referring to its people or its language rather than a longer phrase.
3) Kaveh and Sharzad have a last name now. Mashallah ibn Athari was an 8th century Persian Jewish astrologer, astronomer, and mathematician, which I thought fit with Kaveh's architecture stuff but especially with Kaveh's father having been a part of the Rtawahist Darshan when he was alive.
Hope you enjoyed!!
Chapter 9: Prologue: Proving Grounds
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Proving Grounds
Slay your first monster
Rewards: 200 Character EXP, 5 Enhancement Stone, 40 Primogems, Alhaitham’s Respect
Three days after the last exam of her second semester, Sharzad packed a backpack for the day (more for show than anything else since she had an inventory). Alhaitham had finally decided that they were actually going to leave Sumeru City’s outskirts, something Sharzad took as a sign that she’d been able to somewhat successfully improvise combat in their past few training sessions.
Honestly, she was just glad she was improving at all. She’d been worried that she wouldn’t get to the point Alhaitham wanted her to get to, but things had changed, and now she had a new quest to complete!
Only issue: the objective. She still didn’t want to kill anything, though she’d become increasingly aware of the fact that killing wasn’t a choice if she wanted to survive a life-or-death scenario. It may have been an option she wanted to avoid, but she had to come to terms with it eventually, and if that meant Alhaitham violently flinging her into the deep end, then to killing she would go.
So, that morning at sunrise, she stood by the door and waited for Alhaitham to stop talking to Kaveh in their shared room. Sharzad had already said goodbye, but it appeared that Alhaitham had something else to tell Kaveh, who had seemed on the verge of a panic attack when Sharzad hugged him. Poor guy. It only took her calling him ‘Dad’ for him to launch into fierce overprotectiveness, like he feared she might break if she accidentally bumped herself against a desk or doorframe. He probably did believe a version of that, only in a more chaotic, convoluted manner.
When Alhaitham eventually appeared in the hall, he looked mildly flustered, quite an achievement for the person with the best poker face she’d ever seen. But even he couldn’t hide messy grey hair or the slight swell to his lip. Turning away with her thoughts about what happened behind closed doors, Sharzad opened the front door, and once Alhaitham had locked it, they set off for the outskirts of Sumeru City.
“All the way to Port Ormos, right?”
“Yes. If we make good time, we can stop for lunch there and be back here by sunset.”
It was an ambitious plan, because of course it was. Alhaitham’s reputation as an unambitious, lazy man really only extended to the world of the Akademiya itself—when it came to doing things for his own interest, whether it was satisfying his own curiosity or locating a difficult-to-find book, he tended to go above and beyond rather than stopping half way. Apparently, this included their little trip, which Sharzad would have loved Kaveh to be a part of. For once, a commission to complete wasn’t the issue with Kaveh’s attendance, but instead it was Alhaitham. He didn’t want Kaveh there because of ‘self-control’ or something. Probably related to the whole ‘Kaveh is overprotective’ problem, because if Sharzad was even in a shred of danger, Kaveh would no doubt jump in to ‘save’ her, even if she didn’t need the help. No doubt, Alhaitham understood exactly what Kaveh wanted to do and so had prevented him from joining them on their day trip.
The walk was mostly interrupted for the first leg or so, something Sharzad chalked up to them taking well-travelled paths southward rather than navigating their own. As long as Sharzad ignored the chests, challenges, and other mechanisms occasionally lying a few metres from the edge of the path (she wasn’t certain Alhaitham could see any of them), they could walk in peace. And they did for the first hour, until they veered off the path towards Vimara Village and travelled into more uncharted territory.
Well, uncharted for Sharzad, anyway, because she hadn’t been able to light up this part of her map with a Statue of the Seven (she hadn’t with the other one, either, because she hadn’t gone to Gandharva Ville yet, so the only part of her map that was lit up was the small portion of desert where she’d appeared nearly two years earlier).
A little while later, they came upon the first actual challenge: a small group of Electro slimes blocking their path ahead. If Sharzad stared at them hard enough, she could see the numbers floating above them: 30. That was just over twice her level of fourteen, meaning this would be . . . difficult. But not impossible if she did this correctly. She’d levelled up her artefacts—a 4 piece Adventurer and the Lucky Dog circlet with decent stats—just for the occasion, meaning she had decent HP, ATK, and Crit Rate . . . she could do this.
They’re just mobs. They were created from the elements and they’ll return to the elements when they die. It’s okay.
She glanced at Alhaitham. “Can I go?”
He nodded, brows furrowed in concentration already, fully prepared to scrutinise every choice Sharzad made in the next minutes.
She drew Xiphos’ Moonlight, holding it up in front of her, before taking a second to examine the terrain surrounding the slimes. A quick look using Architect’s Scion revealed that the distances from the slimes to the nearby roots were small enough that she could climb the roots and jump off them to perform a plunge attack. Which she could do because, again, Teyvat was bonkers.
Alright. Three. Two. One.
She took a breath and charged, leaping ahead fast enough that the slimes didn’t notice her until she’d swung her sword at one of the two little ones, taking out a decent portion of its health bar in a single motion. The bigger one made a very angry sounding noise, the markings on its purple surface suddenly glowing brighter.
Sharzad jumped back onto one of the roots, narrowly avoiding the blast of electricity. The air itself crackled with the influx of energy, uncomfortably hot across her skin. She darted forward, both to escape and to stab her sword into the slime.
Physics in Teyvat didn’t work like they should, not really, so while her sword rebounded rather than tearing a hole in the slime’s body, it still dealt damage. Sharzad hit the slime four more times in quick succession—slash, cut, slash, slash with a turn. Then, she did what Alhaitham had taught her, a sort of streamlined barrel roll where, as she descended, she slammed her sword downwards, directly into the slime’s body.
She took it to two-thirds of its health, but underestimated the smaller slimes, both of which sent shocks in her general direction. Groaning from the sudden influx of pain, she turned towards them both, taking out each with a few short bursts of bladework. They exploded one by one, dropping a few pieces of translucent slime onto the grass.
Sharzad would have collected them, only the ground surrounding her began to glow a reddish-orange colour. This was something she remembered from Genshin—programmed attack patterns including a jump into the air. The big slime was coming.
Thinking fast, she dashed out of the red circle, using one of the roots to stop and redirect her body back towards the slime just as it landed on the ground with a smack . Sword ahead, she slashed it in the same combination, withdrawing for a second as the slime exploded with Electro energy that seared across her forearm, which had been unfortunately too close to the slime to avoid the blast.
Sensing the end of the fight (and also seeing the slime’s nearly depleted health bar), Sharzad charged, striking the Electro slime three times—just enough to explode it. Purple-coloured slime splashed in her face, but vanished just as quickly, leaving behind even more slime condensate.
She stood there for a few moments. Her breathing was rapid, a token of the effort spent during the short bout of fighting. But she was still alive, and mostly unscathed.
I did it.
It took every bit of her strength not to drop to the ground. Sharzad tossed her sword back into her inventory, wincing at the tingling feeling dancing across her bare skin. Her health bar, when she focused on it, showed that she’d lost just under half of her health in the fight, something she was going to fix the moment they stopped at the Statue of the Seven glowing in the distance.
Footsteps betrayed Alhaitham’s arrival. “Not bad.”
She scoffed, then winced at the sight of her forearm and the blisters running over it. More scars, fantastic. “Thanks.” Kneeling, she collected the slime condensate from the ground, storing it in her inventory without a second thought. Every material she could get her hands on was useful right now.
“We’ll stop to rest as soon as we clear these woods,” Alhaitham said. His gaze, which carried what Sharzad identified as interest , remained on the ground, where the slime condensate had been. “Port Ormos shouldn’t be more than two hours away.”
And so they walked again, until they crested a hill and stopped next to the Statue of the Seven. Sharzad didn’t spare a glance at Alhaitham as she rested her hand on the statue’s base. Blue energy pulsed through her body as the statue turned from red to blue.
~The World Opens Itself to Those with Noble Hearts~
It was a breath of fresh air, like resurfacing from a risky swim, where the air in her lungs was so close to running out that she was afraid of drowning. She saw her health bar flash and vanish, restored whole, as the blisters on her arm disappeared, replaced with a slightly red pattern along her forearm, a reminder of the Electro blasts that made contact with her skin. Everything in her body felt perfect again, like she could run, screaming, across the ravine towards the massive structure beyond and-
The euphoria faded, and she took in the sight across the ravine: the gargantuan figure of a massive ruin guard, a sight made millions of times more threatening by the fact that it was real. That this titanic ruin had become a part of the landscape that would no doubt appear so on her minimap. Euphoria faded, yes, swiftly replaced by cold fear.
Because this world she had been reborn into, this world of gods, of magic, of marvels unfamiliar to someone from Earth, a world where war and carnage somehow always felt so far away, this world contained physical, accessible remnants of the horrors of humanity. Humanity that should not have been able to build something so . . . so insane, so destructive , without access to a whole slew of technology that didn’t exist here.
This was the world Sharzad had been born into, and for the first time, her safe haven, her new life, had been torn away and replaced with a reminder of what was coming. A reminder that, if the Traveller didn’t show up, she would be the one to answer the call of Destiny itself.
She swallowed once, then turned away from the giant ruin guard, forcing her fear into the far corners of her mind.
You chose this destiny the moment you began to attend the Akademiya , she reminded herself. The seven nations, and Khaenri’ah, are what you chose for yourself. You made this choice, now follow through.
~~~
“Kaveh, you need to stop worrying yourself into a frenzy. It’s only a day trip to Port Ormos and back.”
Kaveh slowly turned to Alhaitham, red eyes wide. “Haitham, you’re taking Sharzad to provoke and fight monsters! I have the right to be nervous!” He waved his arms up and down as he spoke, pacing back and forth in their room.
What if something happens to her? What if she loses an arm or a leg? Or what if she dies? If Treasure Hoarders or mercenaries get to her she’s absolutely doomed, oh no no no no no-
“Kaveh. Kaveh .” A warm, strong hand grabbed his bicep, stopping him in his tracks. “She’s going to be fine. ”
“You don’t know that! I don’t know that!” He turned to Alhaitham. “I should come!”
“ No .”
He couldn’t stop his mouth from falling open at Alhaitham’s commanding tone. Oh , the look in his eyes was one so fierce that Kaveh shivered involuntarily. He had to forcefully shove his thoughts of Alhaitham wearing that same look in bed as far away as possible before he did anything he’d regret later.
Not the fucking time. Shut up shut up shut up shut up-
“What do you mean, no?”
“I mean no . You’ll distract both of us.”
“Distract—Haitham, what the fuck do you mean, distract?! I can fight fine-”
The hand on his bicep travelled to his shoulder, then his chin, forcing Kaveh’s gaze directly on Alhaitham rather than on the shelves and furniture lining the room. “I’m aware of the fact that you can fight . That’s not the issue. It never was.” His eyes narrowed, teal-orange a bright contrast from the more dull colours of their quarters. “I’d have thought the Light of Kshahrewar would understand by now, but apparently even sharing a bed and cuddling don’t give enough hints about what I’m talking about.” He huffed, rolling his eyes. “If those methods don’t help, well-”
Everything in Kaveh’s mind was incoherent, his thoughts an utter whirlwind as he attempted to process Alhaitham leaning in and kissing him. He was too late to realise that he’d raised his hands to run them through his junior’s hair or that he angled his jaw in a way where he could bite at Alhaitham’s bottom lip until Alhaitham suddenly withdrew, eyes calm but ears so obviously red that Kaveh could fully read Alhaitham’s embarrassment.
Then, Alhaitham was gone from his side, brusquely opening the door. “Think about it. I’ll see you tonight.”
He shut the door, leaving Kaveh standing alone in the centre of the room. Their room. The faraway sound of the front door opening and closing filled the silence for only a few moments, moments that Kaveh spent staring at the space in front of him where, a minute before, his friend (and once sort-of enemy) of seven years had just kissed him.
Kaveh slumped onto the bed, running his hands through his long hair as he attempted to determine what the fuck just happened. It was simple.
One: Alhaitham said Kaveh couldn’t go on the trip because he’d be a distraction.
Two: the distraction bit had nothing to do with Kaveh’s ability to defend himself, but something else instead.
Three: that something else somehow included kissing.
How was he going to face Alhaitham now? Never mind that he’d been the one to initiate the kiss, how was Kaveh going to look his roommate in the eye-
Wait a damn minute.
Alhaitham had initiated the kiss. Alhaitham had mentioned something about cuddling and sharing a bed as clues. Alhaitham had fucking lifted Kaveh’s chin like they were in a romance novel from Mondstadt or Fontaine . What the fuck did that mean? What the fuck did any of this mean? Sharing a bed, cuddling, the constant nagging about Kaveh’s health and sanity, the light touches to his arm or his shoulders when he was cooking . . . Kaveh hadn’t been losing his mind after all.
Fuuuuuuuuuuck.
He couldn’t see it until now, when Alhaitham basically threw the final piece of the puzzle at him and nailed him right in the head. Or, nailed him in the lips, to be more accurate.
Shit shit shit shit shit.
“You’re the Light of the Kshahrewar but you can’t figure out that your roommate likes you romantically?!” His voice was pitched higher than normal, panicked to the point of cracking. “Sweet Kusanali, I’m an idiot! ”
He ran his hands through his hair once more, before sighing dramatically. I have to fix this. Now. Or when he gets home. Shit shit shit shit shit.
He remained in a similar state of panic for the rest of the day, which he should have spent resting rather than running around the city, stopping to purchase various goods, including one of Alhaitham’s favourite wines and several ingredients necessary to cook Ideal Circumstance (Alhaitham’s favourite variation of ghormeh sabzi) for dinner. Once he’d gathered everything, he got to work in the kitchen, ever grateful for the long trip to and from Port Ormos, which gave him enough time to put together dinner (Ideal Circumstance) and dessert (kheer topped with dried zaytun peaches) well before Sharzad and Alhaitham returned.
Kaveh busied himself with sketching when he finished cooking, an attempt to distract himself from his growing nerves that resulted in him returning to his comfort—designing the home he wanted to eventually build, the one where they’d have more space than in this small house overflowing with books. He drew a massive library for all the books and a study right next door, two (not three because he and Alhaitham would still share, right?) bedrooms three times the cramped sizes of the ones here, and small garden plots where they could plant padisarahs and Sumeru roses and flowers like lumidouce bells and windwheel asters taken from the lands beyond Sumeru’s borders.
“We’re home!”
Sharzad’s exhausted voice drew him from his focus. Kaveh whirled from his seat on the couch to face the entrance, where Sharzad and Alhaitham set their bags before walking to the couches and collapsing on them. Their clothing was drenched with sweat, and the parts that dipped towards the ground were stained with dirt or mud or both.
Breathing a sigh of relief at the lack of blood on them (had Sharzad successfully defeated a monster?), Kaveh smiled at them. “How was it?”
He tried very hard not to look embarrassed about Alhaitham in front of Sharzad. This was a matter for the adults to settle, and despite his daughter’s maturity, this was not something she had to be privy to. Alhaitham and Kaveh could discuss the kiss in private.
“She defeated three Electro slimes on her own.” Alhaitham’s voice had just enough of a lift to tell Kaveh that he was proud. “And helped me to knock back the ruin machines that attacked us on our way back.”
“Also, we went shopping!” Sharzad said brightly. “And we visited Pharos Lighthouse and the expansions to the city, including the Lightsong Bridge!”
Alhaitham shot Kaveh a teasing smile. “I thought she’d appreciate your artistry.”
Perhaps it was the events of the morning changing his reaction, but Kaveh found himself blushing at the praise. “ Thank you for admitting it.” Setting his sketchpad aside, he stood. “Now, I made dinner and dessert. I’ll warm the Ideal Circumstance, and then we’ll eat.”
Kaveh paused just enough to notice the raising of Alhaitham’s eyebrows, and the slight opening of his mouth—surprise, appreciation. Both, perhaps.
They ate dinner in comfortable silence, and then Sharzad yawned and went to bed, leaving Kaveh and Alhaitham alone with dishes to clean.
“So,” Alhaitham said as soon as they were alone. “Did you think about it?”
The pot Kaveh was washing slipped from his hand. He scrambled to catch it before stopping and taking a breath. “Yes.”
Alhaitham didn’t say anything else, leaving the room quiet save for the occasional splash from the sink where Kaveh was washing the dishes.
“Aren’t you going to ask me to elaborate?” Kaveh asked after a moment. Why wasn’t Alhaitham saying anything? Was this all a massive trick? A prank?
“If you really need it-”
Kaveh cut across him. “I don’t. I thought about it. And it’s complicated.”
“Complicated how?” Alhaitham set the cleaned wine glasses in the cupboard next to the sink. “I have loved you for years. You clearly began to reciprocate in the past year or so. I don’t see why we should waste time-”
“You think spending time with me is wasting it?”
“I think spending time with you is wasting it if we don’t make use of it romantically. ” Alhaitham shrugged. “I thought dropping subtle hints was enough, but perhaps I was too subtle if it took a kiss to show you how I feel.”
“ Subtle? ” Kaveh jabbed a soap-covered finger into Alhaitham’s chest. “For your information, I noticed the cuddling while sleeping and the oh-so-constant nagging about my health, but I thought I was making things up . The fact is, subtlety is your whole game, Haitham, I’ve known it for years. And though I can read your ‘subtle’ emotions, not even I can read them if those emotions are related to love! ”
Alhaitham’s fingers closed around Kaveh’s hand. “We’re in agreement, then.”
“What?”
Kaveh watched as Alhaitham grazed his lips over the back of his hand. “That we’ll be trying romance? Or do I have to kiss you again?”
“You’re insufferable.”
“Perfect.” Alhaitham smirked at him, still holding Kaveh’s hand. “We’ll be subtle about it, won’t we?”
He pulled his hand from Alhaitham’s grip. “If Sharzad finds out about this before I’m ready to tell her, I’m breaking up with you.”
Notes:
Kaveh and Alhaitham are finally together, yippee!!! It took literally all my self control to not make them realise their feelings in the first few chapters, but we got there eventually lol.
Few notes as usual:
1) My estimate of the size of Teyvat means that the trip to Port Ormos is give-or-take 4-5 hours on foot, so the entire trip taking a day makes sense so long as we factor in some rest time and also the fact that they started walking around sunrise and arrived just around sunset.
2) To incorporate game mechanics like plunge attacks, I decided that Teyvat's physics work differently than Earth's physics. It's more fun to explore, anyway
3) The Statues of the Seven being a point of rejuvenation will come back later, I promise :) also those massive ruin guards must be fucking terrifying in real life, so that's kind of where Sharzad's fear comes from
4) Ideal Circumstance is Alhaitham's signature dish in-game, and kheer (aka payesh or payasam) is a kind of rice and milk pudding originally from the southern regions of India. It's also typically flavoured with dried fruits, nuts, cardamom or saffron!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, as always! :)
Chapter 10: Prologue: Letters to a Friend
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your third semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
Sharzad wasn’t blind, nor was she stupid, and also Kaveh happened to wear very low v-necks. Meaning she knew about Kaveh and Alhaitham being together the moment she spotted the hickeys covering Kaveh’s skin. Did she say anything? No. Was it highly entertaining to watch them pretend like they weren’t banging each other? Absolutely.
Similarly entertaining (albeit for different reasons) was a new project for Professor Leonard, a Mondstadtian who specialised in international politics. This project basically entailed being assigned a pen-pal from another nation and sending them letters over the course of the semester, culminating in a final presentation on an aspect of the culture of that nation.
In her case, Sharzad couldn’t help her grin at the sight of the name assigned to her: Naganohara Yoimiya.
She had played Yoimiya on occasion when Genshin had only been a game to her, particularly in the Spiral Abyss, but that wasn’t the reason why Sharzad was so excited to send the girl (she had to be a teen at most right now, right?) a letter. It was because Yoimiya was a kind and enthusiastic individual, and because she was familiar and important to the story. Forging bonds like friendship in nations close to the start of the main story, like Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma was crucial to succeeding in successfully completing the story, and Sharzad wanted to get ahead as early as possible.
Also, just . . . Sharzad wanted a friend from another nation who wasn’t an academic competitor. People at the Akademiya tended to turn against one another to secure research grants or thesis topics, and jealousy brewed surprisingly strong even in a place where everyone should have been cooperating with one another. Sharzad’s physical age—almost twelve, now—was more than enough to garner resentment from her older peers, and she’d learned not to force friendships where there were none to make. Better to have study buddies and classmates than people who knew her and could use their knowledge of her flaws to their advantage. It was perhaps a little paranoid of her to think this way, but Sharzad was quite aware of the genre of story Genshin was, and twists would no doubt come at every turn. Better to avoid smaller hurts when bigger ones were no doubt already on their way.
So, she sent the letter off, and waited impatiently by solving the newest practice puzzles Faruzan assigned her and doing research on Deshret’s desperate search for answers to his many questions about Teyvat. This research was for a class on forbidden knowledge and its connections to the Withering taught by Bhaskara, one of Professor Gulnaz’s former students, as a guest of the Akademiya.
According to Professor Gulnaz’s introduction at the end of Sharzad’s second semester, Bhaskara had been doing archaeological research on site at tunnels around the Pyramid of Deshret in an effort to map its insides and discover Deshret’s legendary tomb. He’d returned for a short break and wanted to make use of his research to educate people who could be coworkers on future excavations.
Did Sharzad want to be excavating tombs like those? Nope. Was she probably going to have to in the end? Yep.
Besides, she wasn’t going to be beaten in class by someone like that stuck-up researcher Tirzad , who somehow simultaneously loved Deshret’s civilization but refused to go and work in the field. What a contradiction. Available Deshret-era artefacts were few and far between, because researchers had quickly realised that most of these existing artefacts were stone slates or carvings either difficult or impossible to remove from their original locations. Copies of these documents helped, but they were incomparable to the originals.
Other artefacts were mostly small things, remnants of burials, half-broken pots or cups containing traces of food, and oral histories from certain Eremite groups. Of course, the Akademiya didn’t care for the Eremite tales, as they didn’t seem to care for Eremites in general (again, extraordinarily stupid for the best school in Teyvat). But, the Akademiya’s racism wasn’t the point. The point was that Tirzad was in the wrong fucking business , and consequently in the wrong fucking lectures.
Bhaskara was a teacher of fieldwork archaeology , a master of organising and mapping dig sites in the remote areas of the desert. For someone like Tirzad, a former indoor archaeology student turned researcher, it would be better to attend guest lectures on that methodology . Yet, Tirzad clearly didn’t care, meaning Sharzad was stuck in class with him, the only person she’d call an academic competitor and she only called him that because he was a bastard who deserved her ire.
Was it immature to be clashing with a person at least ten years older than her on matters of academics? Probably. However, Sharzad didn’t care, and despite her aversion to making enemies, having one academic rival for the sake of dramatics might be enough to get the forces of protagonisty destiny off her back for a few years. That way she could focus on her studies and the projects associated with them.
Like the letter thing.
Yoimiya’s first letter arrived within two weeks of Sharzad’s original letter being sent out, something she attributed to Port Ormos being a day’s journey away and Inazuma’s reliance on trade creating a system optimised for speedy deliveries (also giving people like Kirara a job as couriers).
Dear Sharzad,
It’s so amazing that you’re studying at the Sumeru Akademiya! Researchers from there come by Hanamizaka sometimes, and they all seem so smart!
I guess I should introduce myself, right? I’m Yoimiya, I’m fifteen, and my family runs a fireworks shop. My father and I spend a lot of our time inventing new fireworks and choreographing festival firework shows, like those for Liyue’s Lantern Rite and the Summer Festival here in Inazuma! I wish I could show you a drawing, except nothing but a live performance can truly do our fireworks justice, in my opinion.
This pen-pal project is for a class of yours, right? What do you want to know about Inazuman culture? I could talk about so many things for days, but I don’t think the courier taking my letters will be too happy with the amount of paper I’ll end up using. How about you ask me a few questions to start and we can work from there? And let me know things about Sumerian culture, too! I want to know more about the places beyond the Akademiya. The plant and animal life in the rainforest is supposed to be some of the most colourful in all of Teyvat. Is it true?
I can’t wait to hear your reply!
Naganohara Yoimiya
Dear Yoimiya,
Working with fireworks sounds like so much fun! If I ever go to Liyue or Inazuma (and I hope I do one day), I’ll make sure to check out fireworks to see exactly what they look like. I’ve heard descriptions of them, but we don’t have those here in Sumeru because the Amurta scholars in the Akademiya’s governance department don’t want any noise pollution disrupting the animals in the rainforest. They and the Forest Rangers take protecting the environment extremely seriously.
And, yes, the plant and animal life here is very lush and colourful. I don’t know about other nations, but I’m pretty sure no other nation has things like passion flowers or scarlet macaws (they’re both really colourful by the way). Although I don’t take biology classes because I’m in the Vahumana Darshan, I read somewhere that the bright colours on our animals are related to their mating rituals, which is fascinating. Do you know if it’s similar in Inazuma?
As for the project thing, I’m just supposed to do a presentation on an aspect of Inazuman culture, but I hope we can keep sending letters beyond my final presentation. Could you maybe tell me more about the Summer Festival you mentioned? Are there any specific traditional foods you eat or clothes you wear? Or music and dances you perform? Also, tell me about the firework shows! I’d love to learn more about something your family’s business has a hand in planning every year.
Yours truly,
Sharzad Athari
Dear Sharzad,
Sorry for taking so long to reply, I wanted to make sure you got the best information on the Summer Festival! I’ve sent a few sheets with some sketches a friend of mine, Ryoichi, made for you so you can see what the Summer Festival (we call it Tanabata sometimes) looks like.
The story of the festival goes that a yoriki (a soldier, basically) in the Shogun’s army was sent off to war and didn’t return for twenty years. His wife remained at home in her village, working non-stop to raise their two children and maintain their large farm, which jealous villagers wanted for themselves. They attempted to marry the wife for twenty years, failing each time they tried because of the wife’s cunning. When the yoriki returned, having fought monsters and faced gods, he found his wife and proved to her that he was her husband. They say the Shogun was so touched by the story that she wove the two lovers into the stars, where they remain to this day. We celebrate their reunion at the Summer Festival, although it’s become less about love and more about hope.
As for the festival itself, we do many things! There aren’t any clothes specific to the celebrations, but people like to dress up in costumes or traditional clothes, or just wear a mask. And there are merchants all over the different sites of the festival! Street food vendors show up with all kinds of snacks, like takoyaki (fried dough stuffed with octopus pieces) and sakura mochi (pink rice cake rolls filled with red bean paste and wrapped with sakura leaves). Some show off and make full-on bento, which are entire meals organised in a box! There are also games and fortune telling stalls as well, plus the prayer plaques which are always fun to do. For those, you take a piece of wood and draw a wish onto it, then you tie it to a tree branch as a prayer. There’s a drawing of one in the envelope, as well as sketches of some of the masks people wear.
Now, the fireworks! That’s the best part of the evening! The festival lasts three days each year, and on the last day is the Naganohara Fireworks Show! We’ve been doing versions of it for over a hundred years now, and not just at the Summer Festival, either. Every time, we change up the display so no show is ever the same! If you want to learn more about how fireworks are made I could tell you, but for now, the basics are that we make the explosions look different through shape and colour. They fill the sky with bright colours and light, like they’re stars burning up in front of the spectators!
I have a few questions for you, too, Sharzad. What’s the difference between the Darshans at the Akademiya? Your letter isn’t the first time I’ve heard the word but I don’t know anything about it! And, send over sketches of things if you can! I’d love to know how your home looks compared to mine. Ooh, and talk a bit more about those Forest Rangers you mentioned, they sound so cool!
Can’t wait for your next letter,
Yoimiya
Dear Yoimiya,
Sorry about how thick this letter is, my father refuses to have low-quality drawing paper in our house (he’s an architect). I did my best to draw him and Alhaitham (who’s technically just a roommate but I know he and my dad, Kaveh, are dating) for you and I also tried to recreate the view of Sumeru from the higher branches of the Divine Tree, but I don’t know how accurate it is. I wish I could have coloured them, except I don’t think I would do the drawings’ subjects justice. I need more practice with colours.
Also, thanks for the information on the Summer Festival and its origins! I’ll probably end up asking you for more information if I need it, but what you gave me is plenty more than what my professor wanted, which is great. The sketches were perfect, too!
About the Darshans, there’s six of them at the Akademiya. They’re like courses of study people can take. So, my Darshan, Vahumana, specialises in the study of aetiology, or causation and change, and most of us are history or economics students. Amurta, which I mentioned earlier, specialises in biology, botany, and other natural sciences including medicine. Kaveh, my father, is in Kshahrewar, the Darshan for engineering, architecture, and puzzle solving. My mentor, Faruzan, and Alhaitham are both in Haravatat, the Darshan for semiotics, the study of meaning-making (including language), although Madam Faruzan specialises in puzzle-solving, but that’s a long story. The last two Darshans are Rtawahist, which studies astrology and astronomy, and Spantamad, which studies Ley Lines, the elements, and alchemy.
The Forest Rangers I mentioned actually work outside the Akademiya, although a lot of them are alumni, especially of Amurta. They’re also called the Vanara, and they’re in charge of protecting the rainforest and passing travellers. I’ve seen a few in the city, but I’ve never really seen them in the forest (I’m not really allowed outside of Sumeru City without supervision because of the monsters in the rainforest). But maybe I’ll see the Vanara working one day!
Also, please tell me about fireworks and how they work! Like I said in my last letter, we don’t have fireworks here because of the noise pollution, but I’d love to know more. Especially since you and your family are so involved.
Yours truly,
Sharzad Athari
Dear Sharzad,
Those sketches you drew look amazing! I’m sure your father and his boyfriend/roommate appreciate your skill. I sure do!
The Akademiya’s structure sounds really interesting. I think I’d be in Spantamad or Kshahrewar if we take fireworks into account . . . maybe Spantamad more, because making fireworks uses alchemical principles. Speaking of fireworks, I sent you diagrams of firework building and the best step-by-step guide I could write out so you understand what goes into making them. You’re really smart, so I’m sure you’ll understand what I’ve sent, and if you don’t, ask me questions!
Things have been quiet on Narukami Island, besides the usual tourism and business visits going on. Naganohara Fireworks just filled out an order for the Kanjou Commission (the commission in charge of finances and I think bureaucracy stuff?) because a delegation from Fontaine is here for . . . reasons? I don’t really know what’s going on. But the fireworks have been really fun! We made an entire show using motifs and the colours of Fontaine, like their local flowers and creatures. Obviously, I’ve never seen anything like a blubberbeast before, but they look adorable!
Anyways, how have you been? I know we write a lot about our own countries and cultures, but I want to get to know you better! Do you have any pets? Or a vision? Are your classes fun? Ooh, what about the books you’re reading (if you’re even reading any books right now)?
Sorry if I’m coming too strong, I’ve never written letters like these before! Most of the people I know either live in Inazuma or are merchants who visit regularly. So you’re my only friend that I’ve never actually met in person!
Excited for your reply!
Yoimiya
Dear Yoimiya,
I’m sorry for how short this letter is, I’m writing it early on the morning after my birthday so I can send it to you without too much of a delay, so here’s a speed round answer to all your questions in your last letter.
I’m good. Exams finished a week ago so I’m off for two weeks before the next semester starts. I’m really excited because my teacher, Madam Faruzan, is officially planning a trip to the desert after my next semester (she somehow got permission from my father, yay!).
I have no pets, nor do I have a vision. I have a sword, though, which is kind of cool!
Classes last semester were fun, and they look like they’ll be good next semester, too. I’m starting to branch inward slightly for a focus on ruin puzzles and the like—I want to travel around Teyvat to explore the various ruins of the world! I’m actually taking a class next semester on the monuments and puzzles (like Electro Cube and Electro Current puzzles) common around Inazuma. If you ever find one, let me know!
I’m not reading many books outside of school ones right now, but Alhaitham secured a full compilation of the Teyvat Travel Guide’s regional editions, so I’ll start reading it sometime over my vacation.
Also, thanks for the firework-related diagrams, and let me know how life’s going on your side of the sea, too! :)
Yours truly,
Sharzad
P.S. I sent you a sketch of the Grand Bazaar I made a week ago. It’s really pretty and there are theatre performances on the stage there sometimes.
“She’s writing another letter.”
Kaveh stared blearily at him from his cocoon of bedsheets. “Hmmm, let her be, Haitham. You’re too protective of her.”
“You’re one to talk.” Alhaitham didn’t move from the doorway.
“I can’t argue right now,” Kaveh mumbled. “Come to bed.”
With his blond hair falling right into his eyes, Kaveh looked positively adorable . Alhaitham would have wanted nothing more than to laze around in bed with his boyfriend, but he actually had something important to do for once. While being near the promotion to Scribe for the Mahamata was something he would rather avoid, it gave Alhaitham a better position from which to observe the goings-on within and around the Akademiya, something important given the signs he’d been seeing lately.
An influx of Fatui and Snezhnayan visitors to the Grand Sage . . .
More rumours of Deshret being revived or even still alive . . .
The Withering steadily becoming worse and more deadly . . .
And now, that researcher, Basket or whatever his name was, had sent yet another research proposal for Azar, which Alhaitham had the unfortunate job of reading before he sent it off, something he never actually did. As a lower-level scribe, Alhaitham had to pick and choose which research proposals made it to Azar’s desk. Brisket’s infatuation with Deshret and his connections to the Goddess of Flowers were nothing more than delusions as far as Alhaitham was concerned, but he read the proposals regardless, searching for any clues or motivations.
The proposals were too coincidentally related to the other big news of the moment, and Alhaitham couldn’t help but suspect this Banana character of plotting something nefarious. And he couldn’t let that slide, especially since Balcony had been one of Sharzad’s professors.
Much too close for comfort.
“You’re worried. Stop worrying. Or tell me about it.”
“Only if you get out of bed, Kaveh.”
Kaveh groaned. “You’re no fun.” His eyes widened. “Does this stuff have anything to do with Sharzad?”
Yes. Marginally.
But Alhaitham knew that it would only make Kaveh use that fact to bribe Alhaitham into going back to bed, so he couldn’t be so cut and dry about it. “Possibly.”
“ Fuck . Fine, I’ll get up.”
“About time. See you in the kitchen.” He ducked out before hearing Kaveh’s reply, which would no doubt be a frustrated call of Haitham or something similarly grumpy.
He expected to find the kitchen empty when he arrived; however, he was met by a broad smile that vanished as Sharzad turned back to the stove.
“Morning, Alhaitham!”
He raised an eyebrow at the open flames and the saucepan above them. “You shouldn’t be using the stove at your age.”
“You let me handle a sword. Don’t even start.” She casually cracked an egg into the saucepan, like she had practised cooking beyond the occasions where Kaveh or Alhaitham had her help out with smaller kitchen tasks.
This wasn’t the first time Sharzad displayed skills beyond someone her age, but Alhaitham knew not to ask questions about it just yet. He just stored this occurrence with the First Aid and the Corps of Thirty Questioning Incidents, among others.
“Also, I’m twelve, not four. That’s perfectly reasonable to cooking fucking eggs. ”
“Watch your language.”
“Yes, pater ,” she said, casually slipping into her still-unknown native language to deliver what was probably some sort of insult.
The more comfortable with everyone Sharzad had gotten, the more common these occurrences were, where she threw words from her first language into everyday conversations, or swore like someone much older than she was. Being a rational person, Alhaitham had been trying to find an explanation to what this meant, but nothing he had come up with made any sense, rationally speaking. It was all speculation, bits that escaped the Akademiya’s strict regulations on the subjects of life, death, and their cycles. Truth be told, he had no idea what to believe about Sharzad’s origins, so he resigned himself (temporarily, at least) to the knowledge that a) she’d come from the desert, b) she was Kaveh’s daughter, c) she was Sharzad , simple as that, and, most terrifyingly of all:
d) Alhaitham was growing more and more certain that it didn’t matter where she came from or what she truly was: he and Kaveh would support (and love) her no matter what.
Notes:
This is going to be a long set of notes, oooh boy.
1) Kaveh and Alhaitham are completely oblivious to the fact that Sharzad knows about them, because I think that, when you put them together, they lose braincells rather than gaining more collectively
2) Yoimiya's a character now! I wanted to introduce a character from a nation beyond Sumeru and landed on Yoimiya as a perfect candidate. It was actually going to be Ayaka, originally, but then I realized that Yoimiya's personality makes for a much more fun friendship, so cool!
3) I think the Akademiya has several rivalries going on at once, and given the fact that Cyno's job is related to academics doing illegal things, I have a headcanon that some academics order hits/assassinations of their fellows in order to advance their own statuses in the Akademiya.
4) Tirzad! I really hated him during the Golden Slumber quest series, so he's in here now for *drama* and so I don't have ot make up yet another character
5) Passion flowers and scarlet macaws are real-world things. I think that beyond the wildlife we see in Genshin there's got to be a ton more, so real-world creatures and plants will also permeate my writing to make the rainforests (and the rest of the world) more alive
6) Tanabata is a Japanese festival celebrating the annual reunion of the lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi. It's actually a Chinese festival in origin which is interesting. I tweaked the story itself a bit since Orihime and Hikoboshi are deities in the mythology, using the framework of "The Odyssey" to build this new tale (the EPIC the Musical brainrot has been setting in). Other traditions within the festival are based off Tanabata and other Japanese festivals, as well as in-game lore
7) Alhaitham's canonically intelligent but lazy, so I think he would suck at remembering inconsequential names, like Bhaskara, so he instead calls him Basket, Brisket, ad other b-words
8) Also about Alhaitham--the dumbass knows something's up with Sharzad, but the Akademiya canonically forbids research on life/death/etc, so he wouldn't suspect reincarnation because he has barely any idea that it exists. Also he's become severely attached to Sharzad and is internally terrified of that fact
Sooooo, yeah. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! More coming in the next week since I'm done with music camp and am getting used to my summer schedule, yippee!
Chapter 11: Prologue: Tests of Skill
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your fourth semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
The House of Daena was quieter than ever these days. Oftentimes, Sharzad was one of less than fifty people researching its vast catalogue, and she usually was at least five, if not ten, years younger than her peers.
It was oppressively silent. Buuuut , its archives were the perfect place to start planning her final thesis, which she was due to start researching and writing soon, once Ezhil, the Great Sage of Vahumana, approved her thesis topic proposal. She was confident she’d make it through—Alhaitham, Kaveh, and Faruzan had all approved of it when she’d shown them her idea—and her topic guaranteed quite a large scope of research even after she finished her first thesis (an investigation into the historical source of the unique puzzle mechanisms of Sumeru’s desert). If she played her cards right, the route to Mondstadt and beyond would open within just a few years.
And an exhausting amount of research . . . hooray .
Now, Sharzad absolutely loved learning more about Teyvat’s past. She did not, however, love (or even like) reading analyses done by other researchers, particularly when those research papers used more flowery language than Fischl did. She’d actually complained about this to Yoimiya, who sent back her deepest sympathies and, in an effort to cheer Sharzad, a story about a hilarious encounter with a very confused Nobushi. She was a good friend. And, honestly, Sharzad kind of wanted to send letters to other ‘playable characters’ from the game, just in order to form early connections and friendships for later Plot events. Things like Archon Quests, World Quests, Story Quests, Hangouts . . . other quests. Events! Commissions! Other things she couldn’t remember off the top of her head but she knew were important somehow.
Well, she’d be rolling in primos by the end of her time in Teyvat, that was for sure. Especially once she joined the Adventurers’ Guild. She only hadn’t done so because it required parental consent to join when you were under fourteen, and she knew that Kaveh and Alhaitham wouldn’t let her join anytime soon. Her fourteenth birthday couldn’t come any sooner.
The soft notes of the House of Daena’s background music filled the air as she marked another book as a potential thesis source in her journal. She had spotted the journal’s cover—leather worked with the image of dandelion blossoms and their seeds scattering in the wind—among a Mondstadtian merchant’s wares, and bought it using her own Mora. She had a lot of it at this point.
Seriously, if Kaveh ended up building the Palace of Alcazarzaray and then going into debt trying to finish it (or whatever the reason was, her memory was kind of fuzzy), Sharzad was going to pay his debts for him. It’d be a better use for all of her fucking Mora than just buying things like clothes or stockpiling food and materials whenever NPC shops reset.
And THOSE were a thing, by the way. If she approached certain merchants’ shops, she got a pop-up notification asking if she wanted to look at the virtual shop. Those were limited item-wise, like in Genshin (the game), but she could buy a considerable amount of resources and stockpile them. Which she’d done. Several times.
Life is so boring now.
She marked down another book as a possible resource option, and when she turned around, she found an unfamiliar person wearing Spantamad colours standing right behind her.
“Uh . . . hello?” Sharzad plastered a small smile on her face so she didn’t look too grumpy at being interrupted (though she very much did not want to have a conversation with anyone right now).
She received no greeting or pleasantries, only a very excited-sounding comment from the older teen in front of her. “Are you also interested in the translations of the Primal Obelisks?”
“Uhhhhhhhh, yes?”
“Perfect!” The boy handed her a brightly coloured pamphlet. As he moved his arm forward, Sharzad caught a glimpse of the reddish-brown bracelet on his left wrist. “You might want to join this club Professor Orhan founded a few years ago. You probably don’t know him, since he’s an Amurta scholar, but he’s good friends with Professor Gulnaz.” He waved a hand at Sharzad’s yellow-lined hat. “And, being from Vahumana, you surely know her .”
Sharzad eyed the pamphlet, scanning the general messaging of academic opportunities and perfect place to form cross-Darshan research relationships . “What does this club do, exactly?”
“Lots of things!” For an Akademiya scholar, this kid sure was excited. “They’ve scheduled trips to real ruins before and we’ve done all sorts of collaborative projects and research on Deshreti civilization and the Eremites—their descendants.” He said this last part with an air of pride, which Sharzad guessed meant that he, too, was one of the Eremites, the people of the desert.
“Oh. Well, I’ll have to think about it—I’m already going on my own research trips, you see, and-”
“I’m sure you could handle both!” The teen took a step closer, suddenly looking much more intimidating than he had been. Why is he so tall? “These trips to the desert are once-in-a-lifetime if you’re not going to focus on desert civilizations, and you’ll have the opportunity to participate in archaeologically significant digs!”
He was much closer now, forcing her to step back into the wall of books. In the near-empty House of Daena, no one would notice this going on. Sharzad briefly considered taking out her sword and maiming the guy, just for being so downright creepy .
A flash of purple and black ears caught her attention— Cyno. She hadn’t seen him in a while, but by the look of it, he wasn’t particularly busy, and Sharzad needed to get somewhere safe . Fast. She didn’t trust the strange Spantamad boy any more than she trusted the highest branches of the Divine Tree to hold her weight without snapping.
“I’ll consider it on my own time. Thank you for the offer.”
Her attempt at ducking sideways failed as the boy thrust an arm forward, pinning her to the wall without touching her. The House of Daena music abruptly shifted to the fast-paced sound of one of Sumeru’s many battle themes.
Well THAT’s a fucking sign.
“You really should consider joining. It’s a path to true enlightenment beyond what the Akademiya teaches.”
Find a way out find a way out find a way out-
Knowing that she was alone here, with no way out, Sharzad decided to do something she sensed would probably work on an Akademiya scholar with barely any life experience.
“Your future kids are really going to feel this.”
The boy blinked. “What?”
Sharzad kicked him in the balls with as much strength as she could muster, before sprinting for Cyno the moment the boy’s hands jumped towards the source of his newfound pain.
“Cyno, hey!”
He just barely turned his head to acknowledge her as she matched his pace heading out of the House of Daena. “Hello, Sharzad.”
“Haven’t seen you in a bit.”
“I’ve been busy. Is there something that needs my attention?”
When the battle music faded out again, replaced with the semi-familiar notes of Sumeru City’s soundtrack (now that they’d left the House of Daena), Sharzad took it as a sign that the danger was over, and she could relax. That was a good thing about her system’s soundtrack function, although sometimes she just wanted to listen to the city instead of the background music, or to music from Earth that didn’t exist here.
Remembering Cyno’s question, Sharzad blinked at him, making her voice as soft and innocent-sounding as possible. “Can’t I speak to my rescuer from the desert because I haven’t seen him in nearly a year?”
“ Sharzad .”
She huffed. “None of you adults are any fun.”
Cyno remained unfazed. “I’m sure we aren’t if you have a habit of lying to all of us. What’s going on?”
“A creep, nothing else.” She shrugged. “He really wanted me to join a club of some kind. I said no.”
His demeanour noticeably changed here, everything tensing like a predator about to pounce on his prey. “Hmm. Does this have to do with the groaning I heard when you joined me?”
That comment received a confused glance from the mahamata standing by the Akademiya’s main doors as they descended the pathway towards the rest of the city.
“I kicked him in the balls. Don’t worry about it.”
“Anyone making students uncomfortable becomes a suspect in further activity.” Cyno’s voice was low, a trademark of the General Mahamatra, all-business Cyno, which was Cyno basically all the time Sharzad had ever seen him (in person, obviously). “Besides, I’m not going to let one of the Akademiya’s youngest students be forced to do things she doesn’t want to do by older students.”
“Thanks for the sentiment, but I handled it just fine.”
“You ran to use me as an escape route. Don’t even pretend you could have handled it on your own.”
Huffing again, Sharzad rolled her eyes. “Ugh. What are you even doing in the city in the first place?”
“I’m the head of the Matra, Sharzad.”
Duh. “Okay? I thought you were in the forest for an assignment.”
“An investigation or two, but I’ve had some much needed extra training with the Forest Rangers.” Extra training? “I can never be too prepared, especially if I’m tracking criminals for long periods of time.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “I thought your reputation was that you catch people quickly?”
“I catch people effectively . There’s a difference.”
“Yeah, I knew that.” She didn’t, but she was too proud to admit that mistake. “So, what, someone’s getting judged today?”
“People were judged earlier.”
She waited a few seconds before sighing. “You won’t tell me more?”
“It’s not for you to hear.”
She could hear the you’re too young to hear this in his voice. Ugh, stupid physical age hindering her again. “ Fine. Do you think the Forest Rangers would teach me survival skills if I asked?”
“Why do you need to know those? You’ll be a researcher.”
“I’m going out to the desert during my break term.”
Cyno, who up until this point had made zero eye contact with her, fully turned his head to look at her, orange-red eyes wide. “Kaveh’s letting you go?”
“I’m not helpless . I have a sword.” She spread her arms wide. “ And , it’s a research trip with Madam Faruzan.”
The general was quiet for the next minute or so, but then he sighed. “I suppose training with a Forest Ranger might help you in the desert. I’ll have to sword it out with Tighnari, but we can probably teach you a few things about the forest and the desert before you leave.”
Sharzad did her best not to sigh dramatically at Cyno’s not-so-hidden pun about her weapon. “Do you want me to duel you to prove my worth?”
“No.” He sighed. “But I would like to see you in action.”
“Cyno, Kaveh’s literally letting me go on this trip.” She gestured at the door of the house to demonstrate the whole point, before digging her keys out of her pocket. “I can fight fine.”
“I don’t think he or Alhaitham fully understand Eremite or Fatui fighting tactics.” Cyno followed her inside the house. “Not to mention they’ve rarely, if ever, encountered the kind of ruin machines that appear in the desert.”
“Primal Constructs?” Sharzad scoffed. “Madam Faruzan taught me a bit about their programming. I should be fine.”
“Overconfidence gets you killed.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m ready-”
She heard the shift in the music just a second before Cyno attacked. The warning of the battle music was enough—she leapt sideways, pulling her sword out to meet Cyno’s spear at just the right moment.
The impact sent her sliding backwards—Cyno was much, much stronger than her, after all, and much more experienced.
Duck, parry, cut, block -
Cyno was a swift fighter, even in close quarters, and he kept Sharzad on her toes for the whole two minutes or so of blows they exchanged. It was thanks to Alhaitham’s gruelling training that Sharzad even survived up to this point. Endurance was a key part of Alhaitham’s regiment, but the truth was that Cyno was too swift, too strong, for Sharzad to last at full power against him.
At least the Sumeru OST battle music gave her a slight boost in energy. Everything was cooler when there was background music involved, apparently.
Hit, block, hit again, chop —nope. Shit.
Another advantage Cyno had over her was the reach of his spear. Physically speaking, he was only a little bigger than her, albeit considerably more muscled, but his spear gave him much more reach than Sharzad’s sword gave her, which meant that when he reached it forward to knock Sharzad’s sword out of her hand, she was completely unprepared for the move.
Cyno didn’t even bother pointing his spear at her, instead holding it behind his back like Sharzad had seen in so much promotional material and art for him when she played the game. The insinuation that she wasn’t a threat sent her glaring at him as she wiped her hair from her sweat-covered forehead. She was really going to have to cut it or start braiding it—she had way too much hair to take care of these days.
Hmmmm, maybe a pixie cut or something will look cute? Or something slightly longer, I guess?
“You could use some work,” Cyno said, pulling her from her thoughts. “But I guess I can commend you for reacting so quickly and lasting so long. I’m impressed.”
“I worked hard.” She picked up her sword from the ground. “For literally almost two years. ”
“I’m sure Alhaitham made sure of that.” He sheathed his spear in a burst of light. “But you still have a long way to go.”
She stuck her tongue out at him in response. Was it immature, yes? But did Cyno deserve it? Absolutely.
~~~
The architecture of Gandharva Ville was jarringly different from Sumeru City’s. Unsurprising, sure, but surprising enough to Sharzad that she didn’t start paying attention to the adults until after Tighnari and Cyno joined them.
“. . . very good student, she’ll catch on within a few hours.”
“She’ll be coming back here every week until her trip. I may not travel to the desert often, but I know more than enough about basic survival skills and, more importantly, the wildlife , to cover a few sessions.” Tighnari glanced at her. “Hopefully, she won’t act like some of the adventurers who think hallucinogenic mushrooms are a good snack.”
It was fucking weird to meet Tighnari.
For one, he wasn’t wearing his canonical outfit, but instead the pale green shirt/scarf thing and pants of a Forest Watcher. The other thing was that he had once been a near-constant presence on Sharzad’s Genshin team. She’d seen him a ton in-game .
And now she was outright meeting the guy. How the hell was her life this weird?
Oh, right. I got reincarnated and was given anime powers. Yippee.
“Right?”
Sharzad jumped at the sudden specific direction of Tighnari’s comment. “No mushrooms?”
Tighnari made direct eye contact with her, face completely deadpan. “No mushrooms.”
“Noted.” Her grin sent one of Tighnari’s eyebrows completely disappearing into his bangs. “When do we start?”
Tighnari glanced at Cyno before turning back to her. “In two minutes. We’ll be in the forest for the whole afternoon,” he told Kaveh and Alhaitham. “Feel free to wait for her, or she can just make the walk to Sumeru City herself. It’s not long.”
Kaveh gaped at the sound of that idea. “It’s extremely dangerous!”
Tighnari’s really perfected that customer service smile, hasn’t he? Sharzad thought at the sight of the Forest Watcher’s expression.
“Look. Kaveh, wasn’t it?” Giving Kaveh two slow shoulder pats, Tighnari continued. “You’re sending your daughter to the desert for an academic expedition. Although I personally think she may be a little young to be making the journey-”
“ Bruh ,” Sharzad muttered in her original language, so no one could understand it.
“-you letting her go in the first place indicates that she’s at least somewhat mature enough to go off alone. Making the walk here and back is practice enough at being on her own.”
Cyno made a noise like a low hum, almost like a growl. “If I had my way, she wouldn’t even be going on that trip in the first place.”
Sharzad crossed her arms and glared at him. “You’re the one who suggested coming here for lessons in the first place. Don’t even start, General .”
“Sharzad, be polite,” Kaveh warned.
“You’re all treating me like I’m a kid when I’m already starting my final thesis, can fight with a sword , and am literally going on a research trip in the desert!”
“No matter what you think, politeness is still important.” Kaveh’s eyes narrowed. “Say anything else impolite and I’m not letting you go on the trip in the first place. With the sheer amount of dangers there, you’re lucky I even said yes in the first place.”
Sharzad fought back a scoff and her anger. This was so unfair! Maybe she could just run away to Mondstadt right now and avoid everything else! The Knights of Favonius would let her train with them, no questions asked! They let Klee in!
“Alright.” Tighnari clapped his hands. “Sharzad, come with me. We’ll be spending the afternoon practising how to use Four-Leaf Sigils.”
Notes:
Introducing Tighnari and reintroducing Cyno!
So, Lisa supposedly finished her Akademiya studies in two years, so I figured that Sharzad, being enhanced and extremely determined, would take a similarly fast path to graduation because all you need to graduate the Akademiya is a thesis.
Also the Sumeru OST seriously slaps. I was listening to it while writing and it's amazing. Also, did any of you guys play the summer event yet? The amount of references and jokes in Simulanka is insane.
Hope you enjoyed! :)
Chapter 12: Prologue: Riddles of the Sands
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Riddles of the Sands
Find Madam Faruzan at the edge of Caravan Ribat
“Do you have everything? Water gourd? Blankets? Your new scarves?”
Ooh boy was Kaveh a mother hen when he was anxious about something. Today, it seemed, was no exception. Clearly, Sharzad’s desert trip caused him to feel quite a lot of anxiety. Sharzad thought the general panic had something to do with his father’s passing, but he’d never told her the straight truth, so all she had were pieces, like an irrational worry about quicksand and constant reminders about being careful.
“I’m fine, Dad. Seriously.”
“What about your sword? Do you have that?”
Sharzad considered pulling it out to show him. Maybe even throwing it into the wall of their small hotel room for extra dramatics.
“I went over my packing list with Alhaitham yesterday before we left. I’m fine.”
“I don’t trust Alhaitham.”
Don’t say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything.
Every time she had the perfect answer to something Kaveh or Alhaitham said, she couldn’t say anything because it would betray that she knew things she wasn’t supposed to know. The less that happened in this lifetime, the better. Maybe it would even be best if no one ever found out she was reincarnated, right? Yeah, probably.
“Madam Faruzan’s probably waiting for me,” Sharzad said instead. “Can I go now?”
“You don’t want me to see you off?”
Given that Kaveh was still in his sleepwear, no , she did not. There were already enough issues for her in the middle of Caravan Ribat, like the fact that it was teeming with Eremites, who still scared her even two and a half years into her new life. She didn’t want Kaveh to draw more attention to her, not today.
“I’ll see you in two weeks. Promise.” Sharzad hugged Kaveh as tightly as she could.
He winced as she crushed his sides. “Little too tight!”
“Sorry. Forgot you’re so old.”
Kaveh’s replying look could only be described as parental exasperation . “ Sharzad. ”
She held her hands up. “I know, I know.” Smiling at him, she backed up towards the door of their plain hotel room. “I’ll try to sketch a few things for you and Alhaitham. Bye Dad!”
After taking one last look at the person she wouldn’t be seeing for a whole two weeks, she exited the hotel room and made her way down the small set of stairs and out of the inn, right into the streets of Caravan Ribat.
Being a small village, it shouldn’t have been all that busy, but Caravan Ribat happened to be a market town and a common stop on the way to the desert, so the main street was quite packed with travellers (many of them wearing the coloured bandanas of the Eremites) shopping for last minute supplies or resting before starting on the trip through the desert or into the rainforest.
Sharzad bypassed all these people, weaving through the crowd to the edge of the town, where Madam Faruzan waited for her. Her blue hair was quite noticeable against the brown backdrop of the Wall of Samiel (the large wooden barrier between the desert and the rainforest), and the impatient tapping of her left foot indicated that she’d been waiting for quite some time.
“Good morning!” Sharzad exclaimed. “Sorry for being so late, my Dad wanted to check that I had everything!”
“Hmph! I don’t understand why that man is so anxious about everything related to you.”
Sharzad shrugged. “Whatever. Can we go?”
“Do you have something to wrap around your head? A thin scarf or something?” Gesturing at her own clothing made Sharzad realise that Madam Faruzan had foregone her normal dress style and replaced it with a pair of loose pants, a shirt with long sleeves that still managed to mimic her iconic dress, and a pale turquoise hood or veil wrapped loosely around her neck, like she could pull it over her head. “It’s important to protect yourself from the sun, especially until we travel underground.”
In a swift motion, Sharzad removed her pack from her back and stuck her hand into the side pocket, pulling out the neatly wrapped scarf she’d tucked there. The pale linen was undyed, likely cut from fabric that couldn’t adequately be used to make clothing. She wrapped it around her neck and pulled part of it over her head, so she looked like she was wearing some sort of hijab.
When she’d set her bag on her shoulders again, Faruzan began to lead the way down the path towards Aaru Village, the last point of civilization they would see before losing themselves in the desert for two weeks. Sharzad tried to cherish the walk along the village’s outskirts as best she could, but frankly, she just wanted to get to the ruins before it got dark. Tighnari’s endless lectures about the desert had covered temperature changes, meaning Sharzad was well aware of the desert’s absurdly hot days and similarly absurdly cold nights.
Going inside one of the ruins would no doubt prevent much of that drastic temperature shift, even if they hovered just by its entrance.
Only problem—they were going far into the desert. Like, farther than where Sharzad had been found, and by the time they reached Sobek Oasis (a point just past where Sharzad originally spawned), night had fallen, and an unfamiliar chill began to permeate the air. Sharzad knew she should have been used to the temperature given her past life (what she could remember of it, anyway), but Sumeru’s weather patterns were snow-less and generally quite warm, so the closest she’d gotten to these cold temperatures were particularly cool nights in Sumeru City. That made up maybe a handful of occasions over her two and a half years of living in the nation of Dendro.
“There’s no point in making a fire,” Faruzan said as she handed Sharzad two of the plump ajilenakh nuts they’d picked from the trees surrounding the oasis. “Not when it will bring us unwanted attention.”
“But I’m cold! ” Sharzad whined from her cocoon of blankets.
“Ha. When I went on my first desert trip, I didn’t have anyone to tell me to bring blankets with me, so I took the cold like an adult. You’ll be fine. ” She gestured to the green tent behind them, just farther past the water’s edge. “We have a tent, too. Don’t complain about things you know nothing about.”
Sharzad sighed as dramatically as she could. Then, she pulled a small knife from her pack to slice open the thick skin of the ajilenakh nuts, so she could eat the sweet flesh inside. The knife had been Alhaitham’s idea, a small blade originally made for hunting that could be used for other things if she took proper care of it. When she told him about the blade, Kaveh had agreed with Alhaitham’s decision wholeheartedly, citing the various dangers of the desert and how “a sword can’t help you with everything.”
Perhaps not. A sword couldn’t help her appreciate the sheer number of stars painting the sky, or their reflection in the water in front of her. Living under the starry sky of Sumeru meant that she was well-aware that she had never seen so many stars on Earth, and even after years of seeing that gorgeous tapestry of light, she still stopped to stare in wonder every time she saw it.
“The oasis is pretty,” she commented. “And the sky.”
Faruzan huffed. “It’s pretty now , but it won’t be when the next sandstorm hits.”
Sharzad swallowed her mouthful of food. “We’ll be inside by then, right?”
“Of course!” Faruzan gestured vaguely northward. “The ruins we’ll be investigating are hidden underground, within the cliffs around the edge of the Eye of the Sands. I stumbled upon them years ago, and, given my research when planning our expedition, no one has been deep inside yet. They’re untouched! Unexplored except by me! The puzzles will be in excellent condition!”
Smiling, Sharzad allowed herself to wonder what the ruins contained. A chest, or perhaps many? Books and scrolls beyond what the Akademiya contained? Artefacts and treasures she could equip and use in future battles? Whatever it was, she could make use of the items if she took proper care of them, even use them for her final thesis! Depending on what they were, she could write about Deshret-era culture, or monuments, or the use of puzzles in specific contexts.
Why do they shove puzzles in every available space? There’s got to be a bigger reason than just life is a game .
~~~
They packed up the tent early the next morning, and began to walk the route northward, towards the Eye of Sands, which Faruzan helpfully marked on their map of the desert. Sharzad copied the marking down on her own map, a hand-drawn copy she’d spent days making in a fresh journal, bought off someone at Port Ormos specifically for this desert trip.
No matter how difficult, she wanted to catalogue everything she saw and everywhere she went for later use. She remembered the Golden Slumber quest and how difficult it had been to complete . . . hopefully, her work would be made easier if she noted everything.
This included the general location of teleport waypoints and the Statue of the Seven they came across later in the morning. She also made a note about the massive cyclone above the Pyramid of King Deshret, and noted it down as another thing to take care of. The sky in the desert became darker whenever they got too close to the structure, the world taking on a reddish-orange glow reminiscent of a firestorm.
Thankfully, their destination was not the pyramid, nor was it the Eye of Sands, which Sharzad remembered had a different name: Khaj-Nisut. It was a city mentioned in certain documentation of the past, lost to time along with Deshret’s throne room, Deshret himself, and the last fragments of Nabu Malikata, the Goddess of Flowers. If she wanted, she could make that discovery public and explore the ruins herself. The temptation was there.
But discovering them could keep her permanently in Sumeru, something she wanted to avoid at all costs. Glory meant nothing when she had bigger fish to fry. Like Osial. Like the Raiden Shogun. Like the Fatui and their Harbingers.
Perhaps once the main story was done, Sharzad could act as a true archaeologist, but right now, she had a bigger future to look forward to. Besides, she was twelve. She had time.
“Take your last look at the sky,” Faruzan told her. “We’ll be here a long time.”
The ominous nature of that particular statement was not lost on Sharzad, who swallowed deeply and did her best to memorise the colour of the sky before following her mentor forward.
They had to squeeze through a thin opening between a fallen boulder and the cliff face to venture deeper inside the rock, where the path widened enough to walk in single file. The stone here was cooler than the boiling desert, but dark. They had to light a torch in order to see what was ahead. To help with alerting incoming danger, Sharzad turned her background music on, which had the added benefit of creating vibes. Besides the soft music, the only sounds were their footsteps echoing against the stone walls and the crackling of fire eating away at the oil soaking the cloth wrapped around the thick piece of wood that made up the torch.
“No one has been here in a hundred years,” Faruzan said softly. “And before that, no one had been here in two thousand years.”
Two thousand years.
What a long time to consider, wasn’t it? Khaenri’ah had still been around, and so had the original archons (most of them, anyway). The world had been a different place back then, and it was a different place now. What sort of knowledge was locked away within this structure?
They continued to walk down the stone passageway, even as its rough-hewn walls turned to more uniform, brick-lined ones. The sandstone was marked by decorative columns jutting out from the wall. Braziers of some kind embedded in the walls glowed an eerie blue colour, like they contained the Seelies Sharzad had occasionally followed around the forests of Sumeru. As the passageway widened further, the two could walk side-by-side, until they were met by their first challenge—a wide hall with an open door at the end. On either side of the doors were large sandstone braziers with glowing blue lines, and clearly magical fires crackling above them.
“I already solved this puzzle, and the next,” Faruzan said. “But I was woefully unprepared for the one afterwards. I hope you don’t mind a short battle.”
“You couldn’t fight off an enemy?” Sharzad asked as they passed through the next small hall, which had several funnels filled with sand lining a wall.
“I was injured, exhausted, and fighting three enemies at once.” In a flash of gold, her bow appeared in her hands. “We shall do better this time.”
“Do we have to fight?”
“If you want to unlock the next door, yes.”
Fuck it.
She pulled out her sword with a sigh. Passing through the doorway revealed a much larger room, easily the size of her entire house, within which slumbered three primal constructs. Faruzan set the torch on the ground before firing off an arrow at the constructs.
The sound of battle music filled the air the second the constructs floated into the air. Loath to repeat the incident where she ended up with an arrow in her arm, Sharzad dashed forward, swinging her sword directly into the construct’s metal side. She jumped back and delivered three more strikes in quick succession.
Unlike with the slimes from her test with Alhaitham, or the fungi that she’d occasionally fought for practice, the primal construct’s health didn’t drop so easily. Indeed, the damage she did—probably about a thousand points in total thanks to her sword and artefacts—dented its health by maybe a fifth . . . barely enough to do good damage.
Problem was, she was level fifteen, and even with her artefacts, she didn’t have the skills necessary to win anything. She didn’t have an elemental burst or an elemental skill to help her adequately defeat the creatures she fought.
Oh, and she was only twelve.
Anemo energy filled the air near Sharzad, accompanied by the sound of Faruzan’s charged arrow making contact with one of the other primal constructs. She watched, transfixed, as the damn thing’s health dropped by nearly half in one shot.
The ground around her lighting up sent her jumping, not backwards, but forwards, sword ready to slash at the primal construct ahead of her. Once again, the damage she did was minimal, an annoyance, especially when compared to Faruzan’s next move.
“Dare to mess with me?”
There was a short pause punctuated by a blast of Anemo energy, and then Faruzan’s next shot made contact, absolutely decimating the primal construct she was attacking.
Sharzad’s attempt to refocus on her own combat failed dramatically, until a burst of electricity to her leg sent her directly back into the fray. Everything in her body screamed at her to run hide flee , even as the primal construct that struck her vanished.
Effect triggered: Player’s Sight
Wait, there! A thin outline of the primal construct showed where it was. But that didn’t matter, not when the way to defeat the damn thing was to destroy its little totem-thingies. She kicked the first several times and whacked it with her sword until it crumpled, before turning to the second one to do the same.
This was when the next shock occurred, once again sending pain coursing through her body, this time concentrated around her left arm.
She dropped her sword, screaming as she collapsed to the cool floor of the ruins. Her nerves were cold—or on fire—or both at once. It was too much to handle, because of course it was. She was twelve, not twenty, and definitely didn’t have the pain tolerance for any of this.
Amidst the haze of pain, she became vaguely aware of Faruzan’s arrows whizzing past her head, striking the primal constructs again and again, until the battle music fell silent and the temptation to succumb to the pain became too great.
Sharzad managed to remain conscious just long enough to check that her mentor was safe before everything slowly faded to black.
~~~
Oh, that poor thing! How dare your machinations hurt her so!
I have nothing to do with this. The Primal Constructs were only performing their duties. I did not ask them to continue after my death, nor can I control them now.
They hurt a little child!
We are both aware that is no child. Whatever sent her here made that clear. I’m shocked no one else has noticed it.
Perhaps they are not meant to. Those who sent her here marked her very clearly to us. Perhaps we are meant to help her.
I am not helping someone like that! A being like her deserves none of my power!
Perhaps not. Hmm, I wonder what Rukkhadevata would think of this. Shall we visit her?
You’d like to take a trip to Irminsul for that purpose?! To ask a question you already know the answer to?!
She’s our friend. I’d like her advice about what to do next.
Hmmm.
Deshret. Al-Ahmar. Amun. My beloved. Perhaps the opening will present itself. I would not be surprised if this is the chance to destroy the Heavenly Principles we have been so eager for.
Ugh, fine. Very well. Let us take a trip to Irminsul.
Wake up, little one. We’ll speak one day soon.
~~~
A soft, continuous scratching noise filled the quiet air as she awoke, feeling rather like she had just been inside a long, deep dream.
But, of course, she hadn’t dreamed in the two years since starting at the Akademiya. The moment she’d put the Akasha on her head, she stopped dreaming, or stopped remembering her dreams. Either way, she woke up feeling like she didn’t remember an important piece of information.
A turn of her head towards the scratching revealed Faruzan sitting not too far from her with a book propped open in her lap. Seemingly, the scratching was the sound of her pencil skating across the pages.
Sharzad’s hand shot to her head as a splintering pain took over the grogginess. Ugh . What happened?
A dream. I dreamed . . . there were people speaking, and–
Wait, no. How could she have dreamed? The Akasha’s power literally kept her from dreaming, that was the whole point! She hadn’t even remembered her dream—or her vision, perhaps—until her headache. What really happened?
Someone called the other Deshret and a bunch of other names . . . wait, he’s supposed to be dead–
“Ah, you’re awake. I was beginning to worry about you.” Setting her book down, Faruzan approached Sharzad, sitting at her side. “How do you feel?”
Between the headache, her confusion, and the realisation that her leg still kind of hurt from the primal constructs’ attacks, Sharzad had only one answer. “Like shit.”
“Watch your language. That is unbecoming of a future researcher.”
Back in teacher mode already? Fucking hell. Sharzad just wanted a break .
“I don’t care.” Taking care not to move too quickly, Sharzad moved herself so she was sitting rather than lying down. A quick peek at her health bar revealed that it was in the red—she’d lost nearly eight thousand hp and was currently sitting at about eight hundred points. “I’m close enough to dying that I’m allowed to say what I want.”
The amount of apples she’d have to eat in order to fix this was astronomical . . . ugh, she should probably dip into her stores of recovery dishes at some point. Thank the archons Tighnari taught me how to make pita pockets.
“You’re not dying. ”
Jokes on you, I can see that I am. “Is the door open?”
“Yes. And you won’t believe what’s on the other side!”
Faruzan waited just long enough for Sharzad to get to her feet and pick up her things before she pulled the girl right towards the door that, the last time Sharzad checked, had been locked shut.
There was still light inside, somehow, a pale blue glow coming from lanterns lining the walls of this internal chamber. It took Sharzad a second to notice how tall the shelves here were, and how each contained dozens, if not hundreds, of scrolls and books, some of which twinkled at her in a way that indicated you can investigate this. Everything here was untouched, the lack of sand or dust obvious compared to the previous room. This place was sealed shut for millenia.
QUEST
Riddles of the Sands
Explore the lost library
Teleport waypoint—Al-Ahmar’s Library—unlocked
“This must have been one of Deshret’s libraries,” Faruzan said as they walked inside.
Sharzad nodded, looking reverently down the shelves that seemed to have no end. “I think this is where he retreated to investigate the Forbidden Knowledge. I mean, there are so many books here!”
Imagine what’s inside. What I could learn about Teyvat’s history.
“Well . . . we have ten days to discover the contents of this library and document them.”
Sharzad stopped and stared at her. “But, I thought this was for puzzle-solving?”
Faruzan laughed. “A discovery like this is no light matter. We must document everything and take what we can back to the Akademiya!”
“But–what about the stuff we can’t take?”
“We’ll leave it here for another time.”
Notes:
Fun and not-so-fun times in the desert!
1) Kaveh's father canonically died in quicksand while on a desert expedition, so Kaveh's anxiety is partly based on that. It's also a sneaky-sneaky reason for why he kept stalling about Sharzad's desert trip originally, although Kaveh himself isn't the type to trauma dump (unless he's drunk)
2) Faruzan's desert-exploration clothing and Sharzad's scarf are inspired by real-life clothing worn by people living/working in deserts, particularly the Tuareg, semi-nomadic who still live in the Sahara to this day
3) Deserts actually do have a massive shift in temperature during the nighttime because the sand can't hold on to heat very well, so while days are extremely hot, nights are very cold.
4) Deshret's library is a not-so-secret reference to the Library of Alexandria and the Baghdad House of Wisdom, two extremely prominent and ancient "Lost Libraries". I thought it would make sense for Deshret to have a massive library not too far from Khaj-Nisut given it's where he locked himself up to research Forbidden Knowledge. Also it's really fun to think about.
That's all, folks! Hope you enjoyed reading the chapter just as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)
Chapter 13: Prologue: Budding Suspicions
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your fifth semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
Sharzad had never used teleport waypoints as much as she did in the months after her desert trip. Simply put, there was too much in Al-Ahmar’s library to consume in ten days, and too many secrets about the place to discover for any human lifetime.
For instance, on her first trip there after the desert expedition, Sharzad discovered a stone tablet covered in glowing blue runes. Her game system called it a Scarlet Sand Slate , but the documentation stored in the shelves around the slate’s pedestal indicated that it was a key called the Passport of Dunes, which could manipulate the various mechanisms within the ruins of Deshret’s many cities. She remembered it from actual Genshin, and figured that the single object that the Traveller owned was actually one of many tools from the Deshret era. It made sense to make more since so many ruins were locked in some way or another, and they all needed to be unlocked by whomever worked there.
So, yes, the slate was a fantastic tool, though not a perfect recompense for the pain she endured getting there, nor for the nightmares of battle that plagued her so often that she found herself teleporting to the library once every few days, returning with scrolls upon scrolls of handwritten texts to read whenever she woke in the middle of the night. She hid them in her inventory so they wouldn’t get destroyed, taking them back to the library once she finished reading them.
However, she did keep a few items. There was the map of Deshret’s entire civilization, cities and structures beyond the Akademiya’s knowledge recorded in faded but still-present colours. Then, there were the accounts of the fall of Gurabad, of the construction of Deshret’s Mausoleum, of everything that came before Deshret’s final breaths.
Still, there were things she did not touch, those she wanted to avoid. Deshret had left everything he’d written in his library, notes and journals filled with information no mortal was meant to see. Sharzad avoided these, if only to keep Deshret’s privacy. Those were his thoughts, his experiences . . . she did not want to disturb something so personal. Nor did she want her eyeballs to melt if they turned out to be cursed or something.
“How was your day, Sharzad?”
She hummed in response to Kaveh’s question, setting her bag down in her room and taking out the wooden box that had held her lunch. She didn’t return to the living room, where Kaveh was, until after she dropped her box off in the kitchen.
“I guess I’m just talking to a wall, then?”
“It was fine, Dad.”
Her annoyance must have slipped into her tone, because Kaveh turned to stare at her. “What happened?” The vision attached to his belt glowed slightly, energy peeling off it in a way that Sharzad couldn’t ignore, even without using her Elemental Sight. “Who do I need to speak to?”
“Nothing happened! Just people gawking. The scrolls me and Madam Faruzan brought back from the desert made me more famous than I thought they would.”
And she’d been stared at and pointed at whenever students or researchers knew who exactly she was. Coming back from the desert with such a reasonably-sized collection of complete Deshreti works was unheard of for someone her age, because Akademiya students didn’t usually go out into the desert while they were still, you know, students. And twelve.
Now, did Sharzad care about those limitations? No. She had several advantages when it came to making the discovery, such as the fact that it wasn’t her discovery, but Faruzan’s. Oh, and she was older mentally speaking and generally pretty determined to learn everything she could about Teyvat’s long history, especially when the gods and dragon sovereigns were involved.
Kaveh sighed loudly. “Faruzan should never have included your name on the paperwork.”
“She needed a witness for that discovery. I volunteered. And that documentation is open to everyone within the Akademiya . . . regardless, people from my Darshan were bound to find out anyway, given that I’m Faruzan’s student and I took a trip with her to the desert. It doesn’t take much brainpower to put two and two together.”
Kaveh’s expression said it definitely takes a lot for some people in the Akademiya , but his verbal reply was much more tame. “I still don’t like it.”
“Huh. How’s your commission coming along?”
Being Kaveh’s daughter meant that Sharzad was keenly aware of several of his habits, including his tendency to go off on tangents whenever a particular client pissed him off. She’d hoped this was the case and her new fame would be forgotten, but his shrug said otherwise.
“It’s going fine. Mondstadtians are much more reasonable when it comes to aesthetics. It’s been easy to create something for Mister Böhler. I just hope he’ll be able to supervise everything on his own.”
“Okay.” She glanced at the closed door to the study. “Is Haitham back yet? I want to show him my thesis proposal before I send it off for approval.”
“You’ve drafted a proposal already?” Although he didn’t look at her, Sharzad could still tell that Kaveh was beyond surprised. “I thought you decided your topic a few weeks ago?”
“I’ve had the foundations for months. Just needed to draft the proposal itself.” She crossed her arms. “And work on my research’s foundations since it’s probably going to be approved. I guess Haitham’s not back?”
“No.” Kaveh swallowed, raising his head to look at her. “And, Sharzad, we need to talk about him.”
Oh? “About what?”
“We’ll need him to be here, but . . . it’s important, okay?”
Oh, yeah? Are you finally going to tell me that you’ve been together or is this going to be some other bullshit?
~~~
Dear Sharzad,
Preparations for the Summer Festival are officially underway! We’re using some of the choreography from a show that happened a hundred years ago to commemorate the festival’s endurance and to celebrate the success of Naganohara Fireworks, which is really exciting! All we have are the paper slips from that fireworks show, and notes from my great-grandmother about how they timed them. I can’t wait to see them!
I’ve been thinking a lot about that picture you sent me a month ago. Those colours of the desert sunset are so pretty! They remind me of winter nights here, when snow covers the ground and almost glows with the same colours as the setting sun. When you end up visiting, we have to get dango and watch the sunset together. I think you’ll find it beautiful. The sea stretches forever here–you can’t even see Liyue, it's so far!
I should also mention I’ve been exploring the wilds of Narukami Island a lot more. It’s a lot easier to practise with my bow when my father’s not there to scold me for hitting the wrong target. And, besides, it’s nice to see things beyond Hanamizaka and Inazuma City. There are bake-danuki all throughout the landscape, did you know? They’re little tricksters, but they’re so cute!
What about you? Are you back in school yet? Tell me how your research is going after that desert trip! Your stories are always super interesting, almost as much as light novels over here, haha. Maybe you should become an author instead of working in academia.
Anyway, I've got to get back to work now. There's still so much to do before the festival kicks off, but I'll write again soon. Take care of yourself, and don't forget to tell me all about what's been going on in Sumeru.
Excited for your reply, as always,
Yoimiya
Dear Yoimiya,
Summer Festival season is back, yay! I can’t believe we’ve already been exchanging letters for a whole year. Wishing you luck on preparations (and on other trips to the wilderness)!!
My first day of school was fine, except for the staring (long story short I became kind of famous after my summer trip so loads of people know my name and face now). I’m getting a lot more independent study classes this year, which basically means that I get to do my own research and ask questions about writing my final thesis. Although, I still have to take some classes, so I’m learning more about Fontaine’s justice system. It’s kind of a mess, really, because there are a lot of very stupid-sounding laws in Fontaine.
For example, every day at 3 o’clock, citizens have to eat a pastry of some kind if they’re in public. Punishment is usually a fine of some kind, but apparently repeat offenders can get thrown in jail?
Like I said, weird.
Kaveh told me earlier that he and Alhaitham have something important to tell me. I think you know what it is, and honestly, I’m glad they’re finally doing it. Trying to pretend they haven’t been together for over a year has been extremely painful for me, although it might be even more painful to see them kiss in front of me. Ew.
Otherwise, life’s been good, like I hope yours has. I haven’t been out to fight anything or explore in a while, even though I think Kaveh wants to take me out so he can see me fight something. I can’t believe he hasn’t seen me do that yet, but then again, both Alhaitham and Tighnari forbid him from going near them when I practise fighting. But, now that I don’t train with Tighnari and that Alhaitham’s gotten really busy, I think Kaveh has more chances to take me out and see my skills.
Don’t forget to tell me how the Summer Festival goes this year! Also, I’m enclosing your birthday present. I hope you like it!
Yours truly,
Sharzad
~~~
“She should never have gone to the desert.”
Kaveh’s eyes widened. “Haitham? What do you mean?”
“The Akademiya is a mess ever since she came back. I had no less than six Vahumana Dastur and Herbad mention her in their meetings, even approach me about her on a personal level. They want to know how she found the location of the cache of books and scrolls.” He brought his hand to his temple, in half a mind to just put his headphones on and ignore the world.
“Hmm.” Biting his lips in nervousness, Kaveh turned towards the small table covered in sketches Sharzad and Kaveh had made. “She did mention a lot of staring when she came home. But, I didn’t think-”
“The Great Sages will no doubt bring it up at their next meeting,” Alhaitham said shortly. “Now that she’s returned to school.”
Fingers snaking through his blond hair, Kaveh sighed. “And she’s starting her final thesis proposal, too. Once that arrives on Ezhil’s desk . . .”
“She’s finally finalising it?” Alhaitham huffed out a chuckle. “Ha . . . I thought she’d finished months ago.”
“The cache changed things. I think she’s focusing a lot less on puzzles and more on their specific usages with the Scarlet Sand Slates.”
Crossing his arms, he replied, “She’ll be competing with another researcher, then.”
“Who?”
“His name is Tirzad . . . I think he’s about fifteen years older than Sharzad. He was researching the first of the Scarlet Sand Slates we found.”
Stopping in his tracks, Kaveh slowly turned towards Alhaitham. “Sharzad found the second one. They’ll be competing–I can’t have her do that–”
Assassinations of academics aren’t all that common anymore, but if Tirzad gets angry enough and hires a few mercenaries . . .
“If Tirzad has any academic integrity, he’ll stand down.” Narrowing his eyes, Alhaitham continued. “If not, I’ll make him. We can let Cyno know about any suspicions, and perhaps hire an Eremite guard for Sharzad.”
Swallowing again, Kaveh approached him, crossing their room in a few elegant strides. “Nothing can happen to her. Nothing. ”
“We’ll ensure it, Kaveh.” Alhaitham brushed his lover’s hair away from his face with a stray finger. “Now, what did you want to talk about?”
Kaveh hummed. “We need to tell her about us. We’ve waited long enough.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows by now. Despite your own flaws, she’s quite observant.”
“What do you mean, flaws?!” Kaveh grabbed Alhaitham’s wrist, dragging it away from his hair.
“It took you years to notice the hints I’d been dropping, and even then I had to kiss you before you realised that I wasn’t making fun of you.” Alhaitham slightly smirked at him, something that sent Kaveh’s entire face bright red. “From what I can tell, Sharzad’s at least more observant than that , although that isn’t really an achievement.”
“The same could be said about her being more emotional than you , mister poker face.”
“Hmm?” Lowering his head, he whispered his next statement into Kaveh’s ears, soft, low, breathy. “I thought you liked that I only show more of my feelings to you specifically.”
Kaveh pushed him off. “Fuck you.”
“Yes, exactly.”
Alhaitham watched Kaveh visibly shiver at the sound of his voice. It still surprised him how much of an effect he had on Kaveh, even when he wasn’t trying too hard.
“No. Not now.” Kaveh glared at him, face bright pink. “Sharzad first. Then you can try to seduce me.”
Still smirking, Alhaitham let his gaze rove over Kaveh’s body. “Best make it quick.”
“Impatient, horny bastard.” Kaveh paused with a hand on the doorknob. “You’re coming too.”
“Alright. You’re talking, though. She’s your daughter, after all.”
“Like she doesn’t consider you a father figure.”
Alhaitham didn’t dignify that comment with a response.
They wandered out of the bedroom (reluctantly on both their parts) and towards the living room, where Sharzad was . . . stretching? Alhaitham didn’t fully understand what was going on. She stood on one leg, the other foot pressed to the side of her calf and her arms raised into the air. Her eyes were closed, even as she wobbled slightly from side-to-side.
“Sharzad?”
The sound of Kaveh’s confused voice startled Sharzad, sending her completely off-balance. A mildly loud yelp followed her tumble to the floor, although she jumped back up nearly immediately, flipping her long light brown hair from her face as she stood.
“Ugh, I really need to trim this short.” She blinked owlishly at Kaveh and Alhaitham. “Is it time for the talk?”
Nodding, Kaveh swallowed. He wandered towards the couches, gesturing with a hand for Sharzad to sit on the couch opposite him. Alhaitham remained standing, although he moved to stand behind Kaveh.
“So, Sharzad, you know that Alhaitham and I have been friends a long time.” His voice shook as he hesitated. “And, um, you know that we’ve been living together, for a long time.”
Oh, Kaveh was hopeless . How amusing.
“And, sometime last year, we realised that we wanted to try being . . . more than friends. Meaning, well, that we’re–we’ve been–together.”
Sharzad tilted her head slightly at him, brows furrowed. “Is that everything?”
Wait-
Alhaitham had been joking before, but if this was entirely serious and she had noticed -
“What do you mean?” Kaveh asked. “ Is that everything? ”
“I mean, I knew about it.” Her lips curled upwards into a mischievous smile. “You guys are really bad at keeping your relationship a secret.”
So she knew. Alhaitham had been suspicious of it, but despite what he told Kaveh, he hadn’t been certain that she had noticed their relationship. Thoughts racing, he pondered what clued her in, how long she had known, and most importantly, why she didn’t tell them she knew. Most children would have at least asked questions if they had suspicions, but if Sharzad had known a while . . . why didn’t she say anything?
“How long have you known?” he asked her.
Shrugging, Sharzad hummed. “Since . . . oh, a year or so? Little bit after Alhaitham took me to kill my first monsters.”
Almost our whole relationship. We were being careful, too, so I don’t see how–she shouldn’t know about things like hickeys or-
“Alhaitham? Are you okay?”
He slammed a block on his thoughts and nodded slightly. “I’m fine. How’s your proposal coming along?”
That look in her golden eyes was one that knew he was trying to distract her, yet she made no attempt to steer the conversation back to him. A twelve-year-old shouldn’t be this mature. A twelve-year-old shouldn’t have that look in her gaze.
He made a mental note to start researching similar occurrences, and to contact Tighnari and Cyno so they could speak as a group of educated adults. Perhaps it would be best to search beyond Haravatat—beyond the Akademiya, even—for answers.
~~~
The rainforest was lively as always despite the recent rains. Bright flowers adorned the trees and the ground as the small group of four convened within the close-growing trees and shrubbery. They needed a place in private, and the rainforest offered that perfectly.
“Where’s Sharzad?”
Alhaitham’s gaze followed a bird flying through the trees. “She’s in class all day, which makes this the perfect time to talk.”
“Thanks for coming,” Kaveh added in exasperation. Alhaitham should have thanked Cyno and Tighnari for coming before saying anything else. “We know you’re not as familiar with Sharzad, but-”
“We get it.” With his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed, Cyno looked every bit the stern and strong General Mahamatra, even despite being in his early twenties and generally appearing younger than that. “Is there something new?”
“You need to send a letter to Lisa Minci.” Alhaitham’s tone was final, the type he might take if it was midnight and Sharzad hadn’t gone to bed yet. “The Akademiya has no resources I can find.”
“How is she?” Tighnari asked. “Any strange symptoms?”
A monkey hidden in a nearby tree made a series of loud chattering noises. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” Kaveh replied. “But we’ve already told you–the ordinary for her is . . . well, concerning sometimes.”
Tighnari’s tail flicked back and forth. “And you can’t find anything, either of you?”
“We’ve scoured the House of Daena and I’ve looked into the Restricted Repository when I can,” Alhaitham said. “I suspect this is a matter beyond the Akademiya’s courses of study.”
“He means he thinks this is something beyond life or death,” Kaveh added. He sighed. “Maybe something that goes against the Sins.” Turning to Cyno, he continued. “We heard Lisa left for Mondstadt . . . she probably has access to unrestricted knowledge, right?”
“It’s likely.” Cyno adjusted his dark-coloured hat. “I suppose you want to ask her to look into possible explanations?”
“Please.” Kaveh swallowed. “And, also, if you can–”
“I’ve been watching the Akademiya as much as I can, especially when Sharzad’s relevant. However I can’t do this for too long without looking suspicious.” His gaze followed a brightly-coloured lizard up a tree. “Whatever’s going on around her and in general, the people involved are on high alert.”
Tighnari scoffed. “Always something suspicious going on in that place. I’m glad I left when I did.” His ear twitched. “What about that guy—Tirzad, was it?”
“He’s fine, just a little pissed off that Sharzad’s taking another desert expedition to work with her Scarlet Sand Slate.”
“She told us she offered to take him with her,” Kaveh said. “But he refused because he ‘doesn’t want to be in danger’ or something similar?” He shrugged. “So I’ll be going with her, and we might hire an Eremite or two as added security.”
“She got permission to go?” Tighnari asked. “She’s only a student.”
Alhaitham sighed. “Ezhil has his eye on her. He’s ensuring she’s ready to succeed. Honestly, I think he’s hoping she finishes her thesis this year, but I doubt that’s going to happen so fast.”
“Lisa did hers in two years,” Cyno pointed out.
“Lisa was six years older than Sharzad when she started. I think Sharzad wants at least one semester next year to finalise her work, anyway.”
Kaveh set his fingers on his temples. “I can’t believe she’s graduating so soon.”
She’s much too young to graduate, let alone go off and do her own thing.
Sharzad had spoken at length about leaving Sumeru to explore the rest of Teyvat, and perhaps even expand on past puzzle-related treatises. While Kaveh understood her desire to do so, he didn’t want her to leave Sumeru. At least, not yet. Not until she was older . . . perhaps eighteen or nineteen would be a more appropriate age to leave.
“She’s done a lot of work, but she’s clearly had help.” Brows furrowed, Alhaitham put his fingers on his chin. “There’s something about her I can’t place, like she’s had experiences beyond her years.”
“Hmm. Have you heard of something called reincarnation?”
There was a long pause.
Kaveh blinked at Tighnari. “Isn’t that a thing in light novels? Sharzad reads them, sometimes.”
“Oh? Well, it’s a documented phenomenon in other nations, particularly places high in elemental energy. The last time I was in Liyue for a conference of scientists, I overheard some doctors asking about a case. See, a child was exhibiting skills in weaponsmithing despite having never picked up a hammer or touched an anvil, and also signs of confusion. He would call people by other names, and recognize buildings by people who had long since died.” Tighnari shrugged. “One of the other doctors suggested reincarnation, and explained it further by means of scientific principles.”
Reincarnation? Could it be . . . ?
“Tell us more about it, Tighnari. We might finally be on the right track.”
~~~
Dear Yoimiya,
It’s so nice to know you’re feeling better! Colds are nasty things. I hate having one.
And you’re going to start handling more things for the business because of how great the Summer Festival was? Ah, that’s so amazing! I can’t wait to come to Inazuma so I can see the beautiful firework displays you create (and to meet you in person!).
Things on this side of the world have been as good as usual, although it’s getting increasingly difficult for me to go incognito since so many people know me. I’ve had people from all over the Akademiya try to convince me to study with them, or join their clubs or whatnot, but I don’t want anything to do with them. I told you about that creep who tried to get me to join his club, right? I don’t want to experience that ever again.
Point is, they’re all so determined to convince me to join them even if I make it clear that I want nothing to do with them. Even if I wanted to be grateful for the attention, it’s been so annoying to just deal with everyone. They treat me more like a museum specimen than a friend or colleague.
How do you tolerate it?
Otherwise, like I said, life is good. I think Alhaitham and Kaveh officially have new friends in Cyno and Tighnari, since they seem to be meeting with them once every few weeks. They brought me a few times, and although I’m the youngest there by ten years, they’re still kind enough to let me talk to them, or practise a spar or two. Tighnari is even talking about letting me learn archery from him!
Hope your life is good as well, and that those Snezhnayan delegations aren’t being too demanding when it comes to your family’s firework shows.
Yours truly,
Sharzad
Notes:
A few new occurrences this chapter, yay! I'm also experimenting with storytelling through letter-writing, so that's why Sharzad had less POVs in this chapter.
1) The Scarlet Sands Slate is a gadget in Genshin itself, kind of like a key to the desert. I figured that the Deshreti would have their own name for it, and have extra copies of them (besides just the fact that the library is Deshret's private library lol)
2) Kaveh and Alhaitham are total idiots but also Sharzad's extremely perceptive for a twelve-year-old (cause she's not twelve), so now Kaveh and Alhaitham get to start piecing the puzzle together. We'll see how that goes
3) Tighnari and Cyno get to help! Partly because I want them back in the story but also because the Akademiya forbids research into stuff beyond death, and I think reincarnation counts, so it's time to send letters to Lisa
4) I think the Akademiya has internal politics and a lot of people trying to move up by sticking close to successful people. So that's why Sharzad's getting requests out of seemingly nowhere, because she 'discovered' (it was Faruzan) something really significant
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, as always! :)
Chapter 14: Prologue: Taking the Lead for the First Time
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your sixth semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
Planning official desert expeditions was hard, and this next one clearly was no exception. Only thing was, Sharzad was the planner here, not Madam Faruzan. And to make matters worse, every Vahumana student who knew about her expedition seemed to want a part in it despite her continuous declarations that she had enough people and wanted no one else to come with her.
Enough people being Kaveh, Alhaitham, and Faruzan under capacity as her mentors/parents, and the Eremites they might hire, depending on whether Sharzad actually met any suitable candidates.
At the moment, the mercenaries she’d attempted to hire cost considerably more than she found reasonable, and while she had plenty of Mora to spare, much of it was mentally set aside for Kaveh and the Palace of Alcazarzaray. And if he didn’t build that, the Mora was for the time they would move out of their Akademiya-given home to a larger place, if Kaveh ever stopped being a dumbass and just built the damn thing he’d been designing for years. Sharzad had seen his sketches. They looked lovely.
Maybe the issue wasn’t Kaveh. Maybe Alhaitham needed to propose or something instead. They could hardly live in an Akademiya-granted house if they got married, right?
By her count, they had been together nearly two years at that point, and had known each other for much longer. It took a considerable amount of her self-control not to yell at them to just get married already , let alone not call Alhaitham ‘Dad’ or something similar in Teyvan.
Oooh, maybe she should , just to nudge him in the right direction. And maybe even something different, like papa , just to make things more explicit .
But that wasn’t the thing she was planning right now, so she had to focus on her other order of business: hiring an Eremite or two.
“Professor Gulnaz, thanks for meeting with me.”
Sharzad crossed her legs as she leaned back in the plush chair Professor Gulnaz had offered her. On the other side of the desk, the aforementioned professor regarded her with mild curiosity painting her face.
“What can I do for you, Sharzad?”
“I need help hiring an Eremite or two.” Taking a breath, she added, “For my expedition.”
Gulnaz leaned forward slightly. “You want a recommendation?”
“It’s a tricky business, I’m sure you know.” Sharzad crossed her arms. “You taught Bhaskara, so I’m certain you’re familiar with the best in the business. Most of the people answering the ads I put out on the message boards want a considerably high amount of Mora, so I’m pretty sure they’re attempting to scam me out of my money.”
Huffing a laugh, Professor Gulnaz nodded. “Ah, yes. Scams are quite common with those people.” She pulled a piece of paper out and began to write on it. “Here—I’ll personally contact a few people from the Thutmose group. They’ve worked extensively with both me and Bhaskara. They’re extremely competent, and trustworthy.”
Finally, she was getting somewhere. “Thank you so much, professor!”
“It’s my pleasure to help such a bright soul as yourself.” Sharzad sat up at the praise, while Professor Gulnaz continued to speak. “Tell me, have you made progress on your thesis itself? I know Ezhil has been talking non-stop about your topic, so much so that Professor Orhan from Amurta has complained to me on several occasions.” She laughed. “It takes quite a lot to annoy him, so I suppose Ezhil truly has been speaking your name in every conversation he has.”
Sharzad ducked her head to stare at the floor. “Yeah, um, that’s nice of him, I guess.”
“Vahumana hasn’t had such a promising student in years. Even Spantamad’s sage can’t look down his nose and say the name Lisa Minci . She was much older than you when she began her studies, and she certainly didn’t discover whole caches of intact Deshreti documents during her second year!” Professor Gulnaz leaned in further. “You know, I’m surprised you haven’t joined any student societies yet. I’m sure several have been clamouring for your membership, haven’t they?”
Honestly, kind of true. But ever since the disaster meeting with that creep in the end of her fourth semester, Sharzad had religiously avoided every club and society that sent her flyers. It had been easier before she’d been thrust into the spotlight, but ever since the start of the new semester, a steady amount of pamphlets made their way into her hands every week.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to join a club, either, since she thought that maybe socialising would be good for her; however, she had bigger things to do than join a club dedicated to the manuscripts of one specific author, or to the appreciation of one specific type of puzzle. She was a broad researcher, focusing on everything at once rather than one specific, niche topic. Her first thesis was about the puzzles of Deshret’s pyramids, a long paper about their use over the course of the Deshreti civilization rather than their focus as, for example, tomb safeguards.
And there were a lot of tombs in the desert, ruins that showed up in certain Akademiya maps but not in all, as the larger mortuaries were hidden deep under the sands and within the mountainsides. Sharzad could hypothetically visit them to investigate, only she was stopped by the knowledge that those were people , or had been people, anyway. She certainly didn’t want to disturb gravesites. Which was why she was going to conduct an investigation into the Mausoleum of Deshret instead.
So much more ethical.
Besides, she knew Deshret wasn’t buried in the coffin inside his mausoleum. It was all for show, a grand gesture to pretend he actually had secrets to hide inside the mausoleum. And so those puzzles inside would be the perfect thing to investigate from a mechanical lens. If everything went according to plan, she’d have enough diagrams and material evidence to finish the last of her paper. Even if she already had enough to present, she wanted diagrams she made as extra tools, plus some extra time to refine her paper.
Hopefully, she’d present and pass her thesis by her birthday.
~~~
Dear Yoimiya,
I know you haven’t sent me a letter back yet, but I desperately need some sort of reply before I leave for the desert. My expedition is going to last literally three weeks and I have to know if I’m going crazy or not before I leave.
Tighnari stopped by the house earlier today, and he mentioned something about receiving a letter for my parents. The issue wasn’t the letter thing itself, but the fact that the letter Cyno received on their behalf was from someone called Lisa. She’s the librarian of Mondstadt’s Knights of Favonius, but she’s actually from Sumeru, and graduated maybe a decade ago now? The point is, there’s something important in that letter and I don’t know what to do about it.
I know it’s about me. I know it’s related to how Kaveh and Alhaitham have been acting strangely lately. I know it’s probably connected to why they’ve been working with Cyno and Tighnari, too. I know they’re suspicious about something, but I don’t understand what. Do you have any ideas of what I should do? I don’t want to confront them just yet, but I will if I have absolutely no choice.
Help!
Sharzad
~~~
Kadri and Sakineh met them at Sobek Oasis the morning they were due to head inside Deshret’s mausoleum. The Eremites both wore the traditional red bandanas and scarves of their people which, despite their vivid shade of crimson, weren’t all that of a contrast from the sands of the desert. Out of the two, Kadri wielded a crossbow, Sakineh wielded a halberd, its shaft about as long, if not longer, than she was tall.
They greeted the party with a few short nods and, after ensuring they’d be paid what was promised, helped to pack up the tents. It was easier with two more hands to help, and once they’d finished, they began to walk.
“We’ll enter through the front,” Sharzad explained. “At least, there should be a door to the immediate inside of that first temple.”
“You have a key to get inside?” Kadri asked.
“I think so. We’ll see when we get there.”
Their walk across the sand dunes wasn’t half as long as the trek from Sobek Oasis to Deshret’s Library, but it entailed a much more dramatic shift in territory. They had to climb a tall dune and slide down its other side to reach the sort of main entrance to the ruins. Sharzad mentally marked down the Time Trial Challenge sitting in the centre of the open plaza, as right now was not the time to touch it. She was pretty sure nobody else could see them in the first place, so playing with them was not something she should do at the moment.
It was probably another side effect of her game interface, like quests and wishes and her inventory.
Sharzad led the way up the two sets of staircases, stopping once they’d reached the shade at the top.
“Slow down, please,” Kaveh panted once they’d reached the top. “So many . . . stairs.”
Sharzad, too, was exhausted already, but letting it show was something she was too proud to do. Instead, she took out her Scarlet Sand Slate and slowly walked into the first chamber of the temple.
The room was massive, built of sandstone as all surviving Deshreti buildings were. Decorative pillars and wall ornaments decorated in golds, reds, and even blues made up most of the colour here, while on either side of the chamber, two falcon-headed statues illuminated by daylight looked down upon them. Well, actually, only the one on the left did, as the one on the right was missing both its head and much of its right arm.
Their path was blocked, as expected, by a triangular door. Though simple, there was a glowing blue gem set in its centre, a kind of clue that something magical was needed to go further into the temple.
“Here.” Sharzad held up the slate and approached the door. “ Sebext wen .” Open the gate.
The gem at the top of the slate—Sharzad realised that it was the same type of stone as the one in the door—glowed brightly. She could feel the pulse of energy it gave off, a signal that sent the door’s gem glowing, too, until it vanished in a flash and the two ancient doors slid open with the groaning sound of stone on stone.
“Welcome to Khemenu Temple.”
Oh, how she wished for there to be music as they passed through the door. Maybe she should have put her background music on after all.
Much like the entrance, this first chamber was massive, lined on either side by elevated terraces supported by painted pillars (although the paint was mostly faded now). On either side of the walls were doors locked by book-like mechanisms called Plinths of the Secret Rites, and above, a massive gap in the ceiling gave a perfect few of the glowing blue eye of Deshret’s pyramid and of part of the next room.
“How did no one ever come in here?” she asked. “I mean, the roof . . .”
“Deshret’s people could engineer invisible walls and floors.” Kaveh’s voice was an awed whisper. “That must be one of them, only on a massive scale.”
Sharzad smiled. “I’ll make a note of it! Right now, let’s keep going. We can come back here later. I doubt there’s anything too puzzle-y in the next rooms, so we can leave ‘em. Nobody else can open those doors, after all.”
Being the leader of this expedition (an absurd title to give any thirteen-year-old), Sharzad, well, led the way deeper into the temple.
The next room had two unlit torches she recognized as primal torches, meaning that they needed to find two primal embers to light them and open the locked door in front of them.
Just how many locked doors are in this place?
“Alright, puzzles!” she clapped her hands. “Let’s solve them!”
“These should be simple enough,” Faruzan commented. “If we unlock the doors on either side of this room, two groups should be able to find the primal embers and guide them up here.”
“I call the door on the left!” Sharzad exclaimed as she ran to the door on the right, easily activating the plinth next to it. Then, she bolted to the other side and did the same. “See ya!”
“Sharzad, wait!”
But Kaveh’s call was lost to the sands as she sprinted down the steps, past the creepy carving of a falcon-headed priest (they felt like ghosts silently judging her, in a way). Kicking sand up as she went, she arrived in a mostly bare room containing a few abandoned fans, some identical wall carvings, and several shelves teeming with scrolls and little investigation points.
She took a look at those first and, once she’d collected her artefacts and a few scrolls (though she’d seen copies of many of them in Deshret’s Library), she turned to the Primal Ember sitting on its pedestal.
“Sharzad, you can’t run off like that!”
Jumping, she turned towards the sound of Kaveh’s voice, sword already half-drawn in case he was an enemy rather than a friend.
She waved at the Primal Ember. “Puzzle. Solving.”
Kaveh waved his arms, too, except he waved them at her , not at the ember. “You need to stick with the group! I don’t care that you’re in charge, you’re thirteen and you need supervision!”
I’m not fucking thirteen, but fine, I’ll play your stupid game.
Three years in this world were really getting on Sharzad’s nerves. She was steadily growing tired of the whole you’re not old enough game, especially once her annoyance had worn off. There were things she needed to do that she couldn’t because of her damned physical age.
“Sorry.” She tapped the Primal Ember, releasing it from its pedestal. “Let’s go.”
Kaveh looked around. “What about the scrolls?”
“Crumble as soon as you touch ‘em. No point in disturbing them right now.”
“This is not correct archaeological practice!” her father exclaimed as he followed her back out again.
Indeed correct, but Sharzad wasn’t about to spend twenty hours painstakingly documenting the room’s layout and each individual artefact within. Not when puzzle solving was her goal.
“We’re on an adventure expedition, not an Akademiya funded one. Besides, I’d rather map out this place for future archaeologists. Hmm, maybe I’ll even come back when I’m a graduate. That’d be nice.”
~~~
Well well well, look who’s back.
You relish toying with humans too much, Deshret.
This little one happens to be toying with me quite a lot. This is my property. She shouldn’t even have access to a fully cleared Passport of Dunes!
Perhaps you should take better care of your things. It took her mentor three seconds to access your private library.
I am not at fault for my priests’ failures in design! It is them who should suffer!
They gave themselves to the Golden Slumber long ago. You cannot call them to your side. They are with the sands now. You made it so. I am sure there are many in the desert these days who want to join, too. It is unfortunate we cannot venture past these spiritual places, Deshret.
Awfully bold of you to assume I have anything to do with how spirits work.
I do believe they call you the god of death.
Ha! Mistakes and misinterpretations. At least this one seems a little more astute.
This one is the first in millenia to read through even just a small fraction of your library. Imagine how much knowledge she will possess the day she finishes it.
It will take her hundreds of years, my flower, even with that little enhancement of hers. It is not nearly enough.
Give her some credit, Amun. She’s only ah . . . twenty one? Twenty two? And only three years spent in Teyvat, too . . . I think she’s doing a good job.
Ha. She’s even listening while sleeping. Can you believe it?
Hmm.
I’m sorry about him, little one. That little gift of yours has made you quite sensitive to the divine. Including, it seems, us. We won’t bother you if you’d like to sleep.
~~~
When she woke in the middle of the night, Sharzad immediately decided to go on a walk. Never mind that they were in the middle of Khemenu Temple after three days’ of exploring and puzzle-solving. They were moving on to the actual mausoleum the next day, but right now . . . right now she needed a good break.
Standing up, she wandered off down a passageway they’d visited earlier that day, intent on sitting somewhere alone and checking out her notes and inventory.
She was, unfortunately, greeted by the telltale sound of an unseen primal construct activating and then appearing in front of her. Sighing, Sharzad pulled out her sword and attacked.
Days of exploration had made her better at fighting those things, but she remained inefficient when it came to fighting those robots, even with her having practised using her familial perk: Reflection of the Scribe . It was a low-level version of one of Alhaitham’s trademark Chisel-Light Mirrors, complete with the Dendro infusion effect, but she hadn’t had many opportunities to practise with it.
She wasn’t supposed to have a vision, after all, let alone elemental abilities.
“Look out!”
Sakineh’s halbert took up most of her field of view as it intercepted the primal construct’s advance. Skidding to a stop, the woman readjusted her grip on her spear and charged forward, hitting the construct with several attacks.
Sighing, Sharzad joined in again, attacking the construct several times with her sword. The two women (well, one woman and one teenager) took down the construct together and once it fell, sat, panting, on the ground against a nearby wall.
She didn’t want to thank Sakineh for the help, settling instead for a calm nod rather than a verbal notice of her gratitude.
I could have defended myself without you.
“I saw you leaving. It’s still midnight.” Sakineh tilted her head at Sharzad. “What’s going on?”
“Bad dream.”
Deshret. Flower. Flower goddess? Talking in my head again. They know I exist. Are they alive? A hallucination?
Too many questions and not enough answers for her taste.
“And you decided to explore on your own?”
Sharzad blew a piece of hair out of her face. “I needed to blow off some steam.”
Sakineh scoffed. “First rule of living in the desert: don’t go exploring ruins without at least another person. Never know what you might find.”
“I can fight!”
“Anyone can lose if they’re outnumbered.” Sitting up, the Eremite moved so Sharzad could gaze directly at the large scar on her abdomen. Amidst the pattern of marks on Sakineh’s body, Sharzad hadn’t really factored it in as a real injury, but a closer look indicated that it had been bad . “I was twenty when I got this. My clan was ambushed by another we’d allied with, and I was betrayed by the ones I’d only begun to trust. Five against one. I was nearly completely run through by a polearm.” She sighed. “I nearly died that day, until the Thutmose stumbled upon me, and offered healing and a haven. I’m lucky I survived.”
It took a lot of effort not to imagine the things Sakineh described. “That’s horrifying.”
“That’s the way of the sands.” Sakineh leaned back against the wall, brushing her own dark hair from her face. “It’s one massive fight for survival, unless the desert gets you first.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, letting Sharzad think over how Sakineh shared her trauma so readily, or how she’d seemed ready to impart valuable life lessons on her.
“Why did you tell me this?”
Sakineh took a long breath. “If there is one thing the Akademiya gets wrong about my people, among several others, it’s that we don’t care about children. We do. You’re the future—the key to our survival.” Her brown eyes met Sharzad’s gold ones, all serious and solemn. “You’re, what, thirteen? There is a lot of wisdom to impart before you go off on your own adventures.”
“I’d argue this trip is my own adventure.”
“Don’t lie to yourself. There are adventures beyond this desert you wish to pursue.”
Yes, but nobody gets to know about that.
~~~
“We have to tell her.”
“Not the time, Haitham. I’m busy.”
Sharzad had left them alone in the central room of Deshret’s pyramid so she could explore, unimpeded, with Faruzan and Sakineh. Why had the men been left alone, might you ask? Well, Kaveh wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought it had something to do with letting him appreciate the beauty of this internal chamber. Why were Alhaitham and Kadri there? No idea.
“You’re inspecting a wall.” Alhaitham crossed his arms. “We have more important things to do.”
“It’s a column and it’s so beautifully decorated, Haitham! Look at how intricately it’s carved! You can read everything on here, and it would have no doubt been painted in Deshret’s time.”
Alhaitham sighed. He really hadn’t wanted to do this, but he clearly had no choice. Stepping forward, he grabbed Kaveh, casually picking him off the ground and carrying him, bridal style, out of the chamber. He only stopped to nod at Kadri, before taking them through the halls they had already explored, until they were far enough from the entrance hall that they could speak without being interrupted.
Meanwhile, Kaveh was doing his best impression of a misbehaving cat attempting to free itself from the clutches of its owner. He also happened to be failing miserably at the escaping part.
“Curse you and your big muscles,” Kaveh muttered as Alhaitham set him down.
“Are you going to listen?”
“What? You want to tell her what we found out?” Kaveh’s voice raised an octave high despite the fact that he was whispering everything. “How do we just break the news that we think she’s the reincarnation of–”
Alhaitham covered Kaveh’s mouth. “Walls have ears. Choose your next words carefully, Kaveh.” He jumped back at the feeling of something wet going over his palm. “Ack! Did you just lick my hand?! ”
“Yes. And what the abyss do you mean that walls have ears? We’re the first people in this temple in, oh, I don’t know, maybe a thousand years. ”
He sighed. Sometimes, there was no reasoning with Kaveh, and despite what their banter might seem, it really was tiring sometimes, and Alhaitham barely had any energy to argue at the moment. “No matter: we have to tell her at some point.”
“Or, we could not. Now that we know, it’s enough.”
“Huh. I’d have thought you’d believe she deserves to know the truth. ”
Kaveh jabbed his finger into Alhaitham’s chest. “In case you forgot, Sharzad’s my daughter. I get to do whatever I want to keep her happy and healthy.”
“ Our daughter,” Alhaitham corrected before he could stop himself. It took all his willpower not to slam his hand over his mouth as he registered the words that just came out of it.
His boyfriend withdrew, quickly lowering his hand. Eyes wide, Kaveh stared at him. “What?”
“I’ve been raising her just as much as you have, Kaveh . I think I deserve that title, too, don’t you?”
“Haitham . . .”
Kaveh’s expression was a mess Alhaitham couldn’t make sense of. If anything, it was a sign that he didn’t want Sharzad to consider Alhaitham her father. Defeated, he sighed. “But if you’d rather I don’t–”
“No! No no no! I didn’t mean–” Wide red eyes, a flush in his cheeks, raised eyebrows, all signs of Kaveh’s usual panic. “–Haitham, you just took me by surprise! No, I don’t mind at all.”
“You’re panicking again.”
“I am not! ” Kaveh said despite visibly panicking.
This is the man you’re going to marry. What an idiot.
Of course, Alhaitham hadn’t planned everything yet, but he had a mental image of a proposal already. It had come to him when he’d found his mother’s ring hidden in the back of a drawer he was cleaning out scarcely a month prior. Now, he’d begun planning a sort of proposal. Perhaps during a trip to another nation, or something similar. And he could involve Sharzad somehow—he was quite certain she’d approve of him proposing.
“So, as her father , I suggest we tell her her true identity before she has a crisis.”
“She’s–” Kaveh’s face fell, shoulders slumping along with his expression. “–I can’t do that to her, Haitham. She’s thirteen. Only thirteen.”
Alhaitham crossed his arms. “She’s mature enough to know.”
“ DAD! COME HERE!! ”
Both men jumped into action the moment they registered their daughter’s voice, sprinting down the stone hallways as fast as they could manage. By the time they arrived at the newly opened central chamber, both of them had their weapons out and Dendro energy ready to attack whatever they discovered.
Neither was expecting to find Sharzad standing on a raised platform, looking down at a massive, ornately decorated sarcophagus. Her hair was pulled back, her gaze indecipherable as she inspected the stone coffin from above. Faruzan and Sakineh stood on either side of her, watching the entrances to the room with their weapons at the ready.
“What’s going on?” Kaveh asked immediately.
At the sight of both of them and their weapons, Sharzad burst into peals of laughter, all seriousness forgotten. “Put the weapons away!” She exclaimed between laughs. “And gaze at this marvellous artefact!”
“What? Sharzad, if there’s a body–”
“Gods are destructive when they die.” She waved a hand at the coffin as Kadri entered the room, weapon drawn, too. “Hi Kadri! The point is, this right here is a fake coffin. Any true treasure has to be deeper in this mausoleum, if not completely under it!”
Don’t say what I think you’re going to say.
“So once we open this sarcophagus, let’s go deeper!”
Fuck, she said it.
Notes:
A longer chapter for you this week, and I surprisingly don't have notes, for once. I just had loads of fun slowly turning Sharzad into a more chaotic and dramatic person!
Hope you enjoyed! :)
Chapter 15: Prologue: Secrets Revealed
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your sixth semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
Dear Sharzad,
I can’t believe your desert expedition went so well! So many discoveries, and you maybe helped that other archaeologist—Bhaskara or whatever his name was—get closer to the centre of the pyramid you mentioned. You’ll have to forgive me, I haven’t been keeping up my reading of those notes you sent me. My father decided that it’s about time for me to take over Naganohara Fireworks, and I’ve been so busy with everything.
I also got a vision! It’s a Pyro one, and it’s so pretty. I love using it to light up the fireworks, and to enhance the displays to make them even cooler! Oh, and I also met the young lady of the Kamisato clan. Her name is Ayaka, and she also wields a sword, like you! I think you’d get along since she’s really intelligent and well-read.
I’ve told you about the Kamisato clan, right? They’re in charge of the Yashiro Commission, which takes care of cultural affairs and exports. Ayaka’s really nice, and I think her older brother is, too, although I’ve only met his envoy, Thoma, who’s actually from Mondstadt. Ayato is the clan’s head so he’s really busy most of the time.
It’s also the time for the Summer Festival, which is why Kamisato-san came to speak to me in the first place. She wants fireworks in the shape of the Electro Mitsudomoe, the Raiden Shogun’s emblem, during the show. I’m trying to figure out a fun way to do that so it’s clearly visible from Tenshukaku. Oh, I can’t wait to see it come to life!
Can’t wait to hear what’s going on in Sumeru when you come back to school!
Yoimiya
~~~
Celebrity status was the order of the day, apparently.
“And, I was thinking, maybe you could join us for a study session?”
“You took Professor Gulnaz’s class in your first year, right? Can you help us study?”
“Look, I know I’m from Kshahrewar, but your mentor’s Faruzan and your father’s the Kaveh Athari! What do you say to working on a new project with me?”
Holy mother of Hell, she was suffering right now. Every free second she had, a new face approached, inviting her to this or that. People she knew from having been in one class with them, people from other Darshans, even new Vahumana students , all came to her side to invite her for projects, for work, for help.
She couldn’t even make eye contact with them, too afraid that she would snap at the unwanted requests, as she was certain she would soon do. None of these people had any chill, let alone enough politeness to extend anything past a simple hello before launching into spiels worthy of auctioneers. The lack of filter annoyed her. So did the clear motives of each of these strangers.
Getting ahead.
To keep herself busy, she averted her gaze towards the jewellery the strangers wore, attempting to appear like she was just inspecting their accessories. This had the added benefit of showing her the more recent trends among the students, including one that brought in fresh flowers, which many students who approached her wove into their braided leather bracelets.
Many of them wore padisarahs, from the look and smell of it.
“I am so done , Madam Faruzan!”
Her mentor huffed out a laugh as Sharzad burst into her office, slamming the door shut behind her. “Are you now? What could possibly have happened in the four hours since your first day back began?”
“I’ve been asked to join clubs by about twenty-five people! I thought I made it clear a year ago that I’m not joining any clubs! ”
She kicked the empty space in front of her as a substitution for kicking the nearest wall. Being better trained in the art of swordsmanship meant that Shazard was well-aware of her increased strength, and she didn’t want to kick a hole into the wall.
“Perhaps you need to make it clearer.”
“How much clearer can I be, Madam Faruzan? Literally all I want to do is to finish my final paper! I’ve worked on it for over a full year now, and all I want to do is turn it in and defend it!”
Her voice raised in pitch and volume as she spoke, her anger and frustration leaking into her speech even though she had made a conscious choice to limit her expression of her more flawed emotions. Anger was unbecoming of a scholar.
Maybe it was just hormones. She was a teenager, after all.
“Would you like me to request a formal date for you?” Madam Faruzan asked her. “You could defend it within the month, if it’s ready to turn in.”
Sighing, Sharzad collapsed into one of the chairs in front of her mentor’s desk. “I have things to finish, still.” She banged her first against the table. “Except I can’t finish because every time I try to work in the House of Daena, people show up to talk to me! ” She punctuated each word by hitting her fist on the desk.
“You need to assert yourself better. Tell them no rather than entertaining them.” Faruzan smiled wryly. “Although unlike me, you do not have the advantage of being older than everyone else, so perhaps it is more difficult for you to adequately tell them no. ”
“What if I just stabbed them?” Sharzad suggested.
“You will get expelled, and all your hard work will have been for nothing. Frankly, I think you should try my way before doing anything drastic.”
Sharzad rolled her eyes. “Fine, but only because I have no other alternatives besides stabbing . ”
~~~
Dear Yoimiya,
Congratulations for both the vision and the promotion! I’m super happy for you! I can’t wait to hear about the display you put together, and whether or not Miss Kamisato enjoys it, too! Although, if I’m being honest, I don’t see how anyone could ever hate your fireworks displays. Naganohara Fireworks is the best company in that region of Teyvat for a reason, after all.
Now, on my end, well . . . do you remember how last year there was a bit of a problem with staring after my first ever expedition? Well, things got worse, and I should have known this would happen. Basically, ever since I mapped Khemenu Temple and brought back a bunch of artefacts and testimony, including the fact that King Deshret’s coffin is a fake, people have been trying to get closer to me. I think it’s the combination of the expedition and the fact that I’m finishing my thesis this semester that’s causing the staring, and I hate it so much. I want to live unbothered by the burdens of society, not chained down by those around me feeling entitled to a sliver of my success.
Otherwise, Alhaitham and Kaveh have been nice, much like Madam Faruzan has been. Things at home are so quiet now it’s hard to imagine I ever sent you that letter about going crazy, you know? Although I'm still suspicious of them, there’s nothing much I can do short of confronting them and Tighnari and Cyno about their letters to Lisa Minci. And I don’t want to do that right now. Maybe I’ll try to hint that I know about their meetings.
Also, if you can, send some sakura blooms over, please? I’ve been surrounded by padisarahs and Sumeru roses for so long that I need a new thing to smell. Seriously, so many students who come up to me smell like those flowers, and it’s getting progressively stifling. I guess it’s a new popular perfume or something.
Don’t forget to tell me how things are going for you!
Yours truly,
Sharzad
~~~
“What are you building, Dad?”
Kaveh was on the floor of the study, metal scraps scattered all over the carpet on which he worked. “A mechanical toolbox. I’ve been meaning to do it for a while, but I’ve been a little distracted.”
Like Mehrak? Cool.
“Does the distraction part have to do with those meet-ups you and Alhaitham keep having with Cyno and Nari?”
She’d been trying to bring up the meetings for a while now, and Kaveh had unknowingly presented her with the perfect opportunity to ask about them. Distracted her ass. He was going to meetings for a secret research purpose with the rest of 4ggravate. And these meetings happened to be suspicious, given that Kaveh froze in a clear sign of shocked panic.
“The distraction, yes.”
Holding out a hand, she tilted her head at him. “Can I help in any way?”
She watched Kaveh swallow slowly. “No, honey, you can’t.”
Honey? That’s MORE suspicious.
“You never call me ‘honey’, Dad.” She sat next to him, picking up one of the pieces of scrap metal. “What’s up?”
He didn’t answer her, something uncharacteristic of him given his penchant for talking on and on and on about whatever he wanted. It was a nightly ritual over dinner, especially if a client or construction was going particularly badly in Kaveh’s mind. Alhaitham was the quiet one, not Kaveh. Never Kaveh.
“Dad?” she asked into the silence.
Kaveh avoided her gaze. “It’s something private, Sharzad. It’s for adults.”
I AM a goddamn adult.
But she’d gotten too good at pretending not to be one that the retort slipped her mind the moment it entered it. In her mind, sure, she could be different, but not aloud. Not in the real world. Here, she was Kaveh’s thirteen-year-old adoptive daughter, not an isekai’d young woman from another planet.
“Is it a research project?”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
His eyebrow twitched. “Something important.”
“Couldn’t you go through Akademiya channels rather than inviting Cyno and Nari on board? Nari’s not even with the Akademiya anymore.”
Her father didn’t answer.
“Is it against the Akademiya’s rules?”
The silence said it all.
She knew its sins clear as day. Had known them ever since her acceptance to the Akademiya, before that, even. In her old life, she’d taken a deep dive into Il Dottore’s lore one day only to discover several horrifying things that made her want to bleach her eyeballs. The sins had been there. The sins had been everywhere on his page, evident in how he broke each and every one of them, one by one.
And after years at the Akademiya, she knew them by heart.
The sins of the Akademiya are thus. Do not:
Interfere with human evolution,
Tamper with life and death,
Delve beyond the universe,
Investigate the origin of words,
Revere gods without acts of devotion, and
Attempt the forbidden and fear none.
So which one was it? Which law had her fathers and their friends broken? Which one had been thrown out the window to solve whatever unsolvable problem they had?
“Dad, which sin did you disregard?” she asked, now on the verge of panic. “What did you do?”
My reputation—and their’s—gone in a moment if whatever it is gets in the hands of the Akademiya. And with Cyno and Nari, we’ll all have to move somewhere, like Dragonspine, if we want to escape the Akademiya’s watch and the public destruction of our reputations
—but then what about the Archon quests and the world—
—oh it’s all going to go to shit just because they made a decision that may or may not be related to Lisa Minci and maybe even me—it’s all my fault—
My fault.
My fault.
A pair of arms wrapped their way around her, shielding her from the world as she spiralled into something she could accurately describe as a crisis or panic attack. She was vaguely aware of Kaveh rubbing circles into her back, whispering calmly into her ear, surprisingly chill for someone who had never seen her have a panic attack before.
“Shh shh shh, it’s all going to be okay. It’s not really breaking one of those rules in the first place.”
She stared at the floor, trying to make sense of her surroundings and the mess of metal scraps covering the floor. “But, you were quiet when I asked–”
“The Akademiya bans research on certain topics that are connected to those sins. What we needed, well, is connected to death and rebirth, and-”
“Death and rebirth?”
Oh. Oh shit. Wait a minute.
Nevermind the panic. This was absolutely fucking hilarious.
Wait. Did they seriously—what did I do? What did I say that made them think that I’m . . . is it even about me in the first place?
“Sharzad.” Warm hands cupped her face and held it in place. “Look at me. We need to have a talk.”
Decidedly calmed down by the fact that Kaveh may or may not be about to find out about her reincarnation, she decided to fuck with him. “ The Talk?”
Kaveh’s face turned pink. “No, not that one–”
The door to the study opened. “I’m home.” Alhaitham neatly sidestepped the metal scraps, setting his workbag on his desk.
“Hi Papa! Dad wants to have a talk?” Sharzad picked at the pieces of metal near her feet.
Alhaitham paused, seemingly taking in Sharzad’s calm expression and the tears from her panic attack still running down her face, and then Kaveh’s own panic and concern.
“Kaveh, what in Teyvat is going on?” Alhaitham asked.
“You remember that conversation we had in the pyramid?” Kaveh said. Alhaitham’s eyes widened slightly. “That.”
That. That.
That.
Oh , they’d been scheming about her, too? This was getting to absurd levels of, well, absurd . She hadn’t expected them, even with their insane intelligence, to figure her out, especially not this soon, but perhaps that had been foolish. Alhaitham was a renowned genius, the Akademiya’s Scribe, and Kaveh was the prodigious Light of Kshahrewar. Her fathers were smart enough to use their connections and their brains to figure something out.
Except their own ding-dang relationship.
“Yes, we should talk ,” Alhaitham said, sending a look to Kaveh that Sharzad interpreted as a variation of I told you so.
The facial expression was universal, even when it came from Alhaitham’s usually less expressive features. And he used it a lot when it came to bantering with Kaveh, so Sharzad could easily recognise it now. Had he asked Kaveh to talk earlier than this?
In the pyramid, perhaps?
“We can talk here, if you want,” Sharzad said cheerfully. “Whatever it is, it can’t be all that life-changing, right?”
Oh, it definitely was . She just wanted to keep messing with them.
“Welllll . . .” Kaveh started before Alhaitham clapped his hand over his mouth. He made a series of garbled noises while Alhaitham sat next to him, hand still across Kaveh’s mouth.
“I wanted to have this conversation three months ago, Sharzad, but your father insisted that we wouldn’t have to do this.”
Sharzad continued picking at one of the metal scraps. “Well, you do. What’s going on?”
Kaveh made a louder muffled noise right before Alhaitham said the next bit.
“We think you’re the reincarnation of the original Sharzad.”
Wow.
He hadn’t even made sure she was looking at him when he said it. All it took was a second and he spat out his theory that she was reincarnated from the original . . . Sharzad.
How the fuck is this my life?!
She burst out laughing.
“Sharzad, we are entirely serious,” Alhaitham said, confusion peppering his normally serious voice. “I don’t see why this is a laughing matter to you.”
She wiped a tear, this one of laughter, from her eye and looked up at him. “You’re close, but not there yet.”
Kaveh made a muffled noise that turned to a panicked shout when Alhaitham finally removed his hand from his mouth. Face pink, eyes wide, and eyebrows raised, he gaped at her. “What do you mean? ”
It took her several moments of fighting back her grin before Sharzad just put her hands together and took a breath. “You got the reincarnated portion correct, but not the person .”
“But—you chose your name! You’re going off to the desert!” Kaveh waved his hands wildly. “Everything adds up!”
“Dad. Dad, calm down.”
“Our second guess was the reincarnation of Deshret!” Kaveh’s voice cracked. “You can’t be Deshret .”
“Dad. Please.” Sharzad held a hand out. “Calm down and I’ll tell you.”
“I’m perfectly calm!” he exclaimed despite his entire body language being quite the opposite of calm.
“Alright, fine. Sorry for lying to you both.” Taking in a breath, she dropped the metal scrap. “I used to live in another world, and I died when I was about twenty or so.”
She spent the following three minutes being stared at by her parents. While Alhaitham looked like he was slowly puzzling through the revelation, Kaveh looked like he was about to outright faint. Sharzad decided to get him a glass of water, and when she returned, both of them had enough questions to last the whole evening.
Meaning they spent their last waking hours talking about her past and trying to grapple with this new unveiling of her identity. Sharzad apologised several times for lying to them and keeping her past a secret, and her fathers likewise apologised for going behind her back to research things pertaining to her.
And they made the collective decision to let Cyno and Tighnari know, as well. They deserved it.
~~~
Cyno had a sense that something changed when Kaveh invited him and Tighnari over. He hadn’t done that in the past, too worried that Sharzad might hear what they were talking about and figure out that they were investigating her. That child was wickedly smart—Cyno was certain he wasn’t the only one who could recognise that fact.
When he found Sharzad sitting on one of the living room couches, face more serious than he’d ever seen before, Cyno confirmed that this change was . . . big. Big and related to her finding things out.
Now, being the General Mahamatra, Cyno had spent many hours interrogating suspects, investigating clues, and fighting his way through mercenaries in order to arrest criminal scholars. He knew how to read people. He knew how to read Sharzad.
Despite her seriousness, her posture was relaxed, calm in a way that betrayed no fear, only confidence that the conversation would go her way. She wore a yellow tunic he’d seen her wear before, the colour a bold statement compared to the calm aura she radiated to both Kaveh and Alhaitham, who sat on either side of her like bodyguards in the living room. Everything else here was normal, as it usually was. Alhaitham and Kaveh didn’t like change from the norm unless they were in complete agreement about the changes, because otherwise they’d pointlessly squabble about this or that useless topic.
“Cyno. Nari.” Sharzad folded her hands in her lap. “You’ve been researching me.”
That felt ominously like a parent scolding both Cyno and Tighnari. Needless to say, Cyno did not like nor appreciate the feelings this brought up.
Tighnari nodded. “Yes. Did one of your fathers tell you?”
“Only after I figured it out myself.” She tilted her head at them in a challenging way. “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out? You weren’t subtle.”
“I think we were subtle,” Cyno said. “But you are too smart for your own good.”
“Yeah, and you know why.”
A moment of pure silence before any of them spoke.
“Oh? So you have been reincarnated?” Tighnari asked. “When did you find out?”
“The day I was reborn.” Turning towards Cyno, she made direct eye contact with him, golden eyes blazing with something indecipherable. “The day you found me in the desert.”
Almost four years ago.
Cyno and Tighnari had been considering the possibility of reincarnation for a long while—just as long as Kaveh and Alhaitham had, actually—but the fact that she knew about it was a whole different issue they hadn’t prepared for.
“You kept it to yourself for four years,” Cyno said, in a less question and more statement kind of way.
“I didn’t mean anything wrong by doing so!” She held up her hands like she was showing that she was unarmed. “It just . . . I lived in a different world before this life. A different planet, or whatever. No magic, no visions, no gods. Only people and advanced technology and science.”
No magic. No visions. No gods.
Cyno couldn’t imagine a world like that. He couldn’t imagine not having the power of a near-god sealed within him, nor the absence of his vision, which had become an indispensable part of his very being. A world like that, to him, was foreign.
Teyvat was no doubt like that to her.
“And then one day, I woke up in the middle of the desert with no memories of how I died, in a place where I didn’t speak the language, in a body ten years younger than I had been.” She sighed. “At least, I think I was in my early twenties.”
“Selective memory loss is an interesting phenomenon,” Tighnari mused. “In the cases of reincarnation we came across, people remembered who they were, and had trauma-related responses if they came across what killed their previous incarnations. Many end up longing for the time of their previous lives, if not at least missing some parts of them.”
Cyno held a hand out, on a completely different trajectory than his partner. “You were twenty? ”
“I think?” She shrugged. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have more time, but yeah . . . twenty-ish.” Reaching towards the table, she took a sip from her tea before continuing. “The thing is, I don’t remember details of my life, only pieces of information. I have no identity from Terra , only knowledge of it.”
“ Terra? ” Tighnari asked. “What is Terra?”
“My . . . former home. My planet. I think I can translate it as Earth. ” She sighed, suddenly appearing much, much older than anyone else in the room. Perhaps even anyone in Sumeru. Like she’d seen the rise and fall of the stars themselves. “It was so beautiful sometimes, but dangerous on other occasions. Much like Teyvat is, which is nice when I miss Earth.”
“But your family . . . ?”
Despite her scoff, Cyno could see the wobble of her lower lip as her voice wavered slightly, confidence overtaken by melancholy. “Like I said, I don’t remember the details of my life. So how—how could I miss something I don’t remember having in the first place?”
Notes:
It HAPPENED!
Not gonna lie, I really wanted this to happen earlier, but the suspense was more fun to write so I somehow managed to keep myself in check. AND NOW for the notes!
1) Yoimiya's vision story is basically that she got it after taking over Naganohara fireworks, so that's exactly what happened here
2) Akademiya shenanigans mean that Sharzad is tired of everyone's bullshit, and honestly, I would be, too
3) Kaveh's a shit liar, and Sharzad caught him by surprise. Meaning, yay, confession time!
4) The actual existential panic is coming next, I promise
Hope you enjoyed, as always! Only a few chapters left before the Interlude and then the Archon Quests begin :)
Chapter 16: Prologue: Converging Plotlines
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Wisdom’s Pathway
Complete your sixth semester at the Akademiya
Reward: 2000 Character EXP, 10000 Mora, 10 Enhancement Ore, 100 Primogems
Evidently, things changed after Sharzad told them the truth.
There had been a lot of information to process, and Kaveh spent a while trying to grapple with the news. Sharzad’s situation was complicated in a way he hadn’t anticipated, especially since the research had made reincarnation seem like you simply just died and then poof, you were in a new, baby body. Not in a ten-year-old one with your entire personality intact.
Still, despite his own verbal acceptance of the situation, it still took him by surprise during the first few days, as he was reminded of Sharzad’s past whenever he saw her.
My daughter was once twenty years old. She remembers being twenty years old.
These days, things had shifted. Oh, Sharzad clearly tried to act the same, but it was easy to notice how detached Sharzad became, how she lost the affection she’d previously reserved for Kaveh and Alhaitham (when he wanted it). Hugs became nonexistent, her smiles less large than they had ever been. While she still called them ‘Dad’ and ‘Papa’ (a relative novelty for the second one), she seemed to treat them more like roommates than parents, updating them on her life when prompted but never spilling too much. Helping out in the kitchen but never learning the recipes from them. Doing her part of the cleaning but staying in her bedroom when she had no need for the living room or the kitchen.
If she was trying to give them space to process, it clearly wasn’t the correct way to go about it.
“She’s clearly at least somewhat depressed,” he told Alhaitham one evening, when they’d laid down to sleep.
Their room was dark, as Alhaitham preferred the lack of light rather than having something small like an oil lamp burning throughout the night. Kaveh could just make out the shape of his boyfriend’s thick grey hair amidst the other shadows past his head.
Alhaitham sighed. “We’re offering support. I don’t think there’s anything else we can do to help.”
“I know. I wish there was something.”
“If we push it, we could make things worse, Kaveh. If anything, she’s just being a teenager.”
“But she’s not .” He dragged his hand from the covers to run it through his hair like he normally did when he was stressed or worried. “She’s at least twenty! ”
“Mentally, perhaps, but she’s still a teenager, even just physically speaking. And twenty years old isn’t exactly the peak of maturity, either. She’s misinterpreting the situation because she’s still a child with limited life experiences.” Alhaitham draped an arm around Kaveh, pulling him close. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. You’re a good father.”
He blinked at his boyfriend. “No insults?”
“Would you rather I did?” Scoffing, Alhaitham withdrew his arm. “Masochist.”
Kaveh dragged the arm back into place. “That’s not what I meant and you know it, Haitham.”
They sank into silence again.
“She needs a place to take out all those feelings she’s accumulated,” Alhaitham said finally. “I think I’ll offer some more swordsmanship lessons. She can improve further.”
“Especially with those . . . those powers she showed us.”
When Sharzad had pulled one of Alhaitham’s trademark Chisel-Light Mirrors out of thin air, both of them had stared in shock. When she then replaced her distinctly Sumerian sword with a very Mondstadtian one, Kaveh had been ready to faint.
“It’s like I told you before, they’re likely a side-effect of the isekai .”
That was what she’d called it. Isekai was Inazuman in nature, a term that reminded Kaveh more of the light novels he’d seen on Sharzad’s shelves than something real and tangible. Isekai , reincarnation in another world. Isekai , what happened to her. Isekai, isekai, isekai. When he first heard it, Kaveh repeated it aloud and in his head until he was certain he would never forget it.
“Hmm, fine. Maybe it’ll help.” He tucked his arm back under the covers again. “Did she tell you anything about her thesis defence?”
“According to the papers I received today, the date is set in mid-August,” Alhaitham said. “Ezhil will be there, of course, along with Gulnaz, Swarna, and myself.” After a second’s pause, he added, “As the Scribe, of course.”
“And I can’t come.”
It wasn’t a question, Kaveh knew the Akademiya’s rules.
“I’m sure she’d love that, but no. Faruzan can’t come, either. And that researcher . . . what was his name? Bonobo? Bag?” He hummed. “Bitch?”
Kaveh snorted a laugh. Just like his Haitham to forget the names of people who were inconsequential to him. “Bhaskara?”
“Him. He should have been there because of his expertise, but he won’t because he’s tunnelling under the mausoleum. Sharzad’s last expedition helped him a lot, apparently.”
Kaveh chuckled. “That’s my girl. Improving other researchers’ work even before graduating.”
Alhaitham didn’t answer, nor did he make a sound to acknowledge that he heard Kaveh speak in the first place. This being strange for a man who usually answered him without a second thought, Kaveh’s brows furrowed in confusion.
“What?”
But when Kaveh turned around, he found Alhaitham sleeping. Completely relaxed. Just as peaceful as he was when he was reading, only without the usual stern expression. Here, he was truly at peace, the mark of which was clear by the sight of the small smile on his lips, and how his usually tense arm relaxed enough to add a weight to Kaveh’s side.
I love you , Kaveh thought at him before he, too, drifted to sleep.
~~~
I don’t normally treat this journal like a diary, but at this point there is no one I can talk to that I trust. I don’t want to burden Dad or Papa with this, not when it was enough of a shock that I’m a reincarnate. Not while they’re still processing everything that I told them.
The students in the Akademiya are calling me Vahumana’s Queen. I don’t even have a crown! They’re saying it’s because Dad has a title as the Light of Kshahrewar, and that since I’m graduating even earlier than him, and I’m more successful, I get a “Better Title.” I don’t get it.
My thesis defence is soon, too. I told Yoimiya about it already. In forty days, I’ll defend my thesis, and in forty days, I’ll know whether I graduate or not. Professor Gulnaz seems to think my paper’s great, but I don’t know how to feel about it.
It sucks that I still have to go to the Akademiya for the classes I signed up for this semester, but maybe it means that I can plan my second thesis. The faster I get to Mondstadt, the better, but honestly more respect and influence would be nice. At least the people from the Akademiya didn’t need to know that I’m actually twenty in order to treat me like I’m mature.
But I don’t want to be called a queen, either. I hate that so much. I’m no queen! I’m a kid who’s fucking around.
Also, Papa’s teaching me more swordsmanship. I think it’s to get me to spend more time with him and Dad, but I don’t want to burden them. So I’m practising harder than ever so they can move on with their lives. Honesty, Dad might be a little concerned because of how aggressive I’m being, but that’s whatever. They want me to get better at swords, I’ll get better at swords. Papa’s lucky we’re using fully wooden blades these days, because if I had access to Xiphos during our spars, he’d probably be dead by now.
Honestly, is it wrong for me to learn how to kill people? Papa was right two years ago when he said that it’s kill or be killed in this world, and I’d rather ensure my safety and their’s rather than letting those who harm us go free.
I also won my 50/50 on a new sword. Freedom Sworn is mine now, and I intend to use it. I just haven’t shown my fathers yet, and I don’t think I will, either. Not yet, anyway. Xiphos is fine for now.
~~~
“Now, Ezhil, I must ask. Is it true that your students are calling Sharzad Athari Vahumana’s Queen?”
Alhaitham didn’t let the scratch of his pencil across the paper cease despite the sudden use of his daughter’s name and the title attached to it.
How was a meeting with the Great Sages how he found out about this? How had she not told them yet? Did she simply not want to burden them with more information?
Not the time, focus.
Ezhil took a second to cough into his handkerchief. He had been sick for a while now and it was getting progressively worse. At this point, he should probably take a week off, or else he’d cause other problems to his health. “Indeed. To be honest, Azar, I have no idea how it happened. One moment, I heard the title, and when I attempted to investigate further, the matter seems connected to her father, of all things!”
“How absurd,” Naphis muttered. “You history scholars have always had issues with authority.”
It was in meetings like these that Alhaitham really understood how similar Tighnari and his former mentor were, between the identical haircuts and no-nonsense attitudes.
“It is no such thing!” Ezhil gestured wildly towards Aryenis, the Great Sage of Kshahrewar. “Her father was, and still is, called the Light of Kshahrewar for achievements that, in my opinion, much less impressive than Sharzad’s. It is only fitting that the most prodigious student in Vahumana’s history be given such an impressive moniker.”
For the moment, Alhaitham considered himself very lucky to have such a fantastic poker face, because it was becoming increasingly difficult to sit quietly in this meeting. He knew it would only get worse, even more so than just hearing someone say his boyfriend was less than his daughter.
Kaveh’s going to laugh at all of this when I tell him tonight.
“Kaveh is just as impressive as Sharzad,” Aryenis snapped. “You simply don’t understand the amount of work and dedication it takes to design and build what Kaveh has created.”
“Perhaps I do not, but the point still stands. Sharzad is a prodigy.”
“Lisa Minci was, even more so than Sharzad, but she hasn’t been given any monikers like the title of queen ,” Zeinab pointed out. “It is preposterous! No nation has a queen, and certainly not a mortal one!”
“Do not blame me for my underlings’ decisions.” Ezhil leaned back in his chair. “That is like blaming you for that cheating scandal last semester.”
Azar narrowed his eyes. He raised a hand to ask for silence, before speaking to the now-silent room. “So long as she is not given any real political power, I do not care. Let your students and researchers rally around her if necessary. Perhaps she will prevent more students from indulging in Knowledge Capsules and encourage more to actually finish their theses.” Gathering his papers, he stood. “This meeting is over.”
Alhaitham finished up his transcription with a flourish and, after bringing it down to the archives and stopping to drop off memos to the people who required them, he decided to head home early. There was no point in remaining at the Akademiya when he had no other work to do. Besides, he could take Sharzad out of the city for some more training.
She was becoming much, much better at using her sword. He had no doubt that she would be a powerful warrior, even without a vision.
Vahumana’s Queen.
He couldn’t believe such a title. It was absurd to think that his daughter had been declared royalty by the students around her. That people had just decided that she deserved to be called that. There had been no true monarchs in Sumeru since the days of Deshret and Nabu Malikata, since the three god-kings ruled over the nation of rainforest and desert together. Sure, city states had rulers, but they were not kings , not in the way the gods were. Not in the way Sharzad seemed to be spoken about.
There had to be something deeper going on.
Alhaitham was no stranger to the Akademiya’s suspicious behaviour in more recent months, between Bachelor’s never-ending archaeological expeditions (they should stop for four months for artefact cataloguing, but no one seemed to notice), the clear attention Sharzad was receiving when it came to club membership, and now the outright invention of a new title. Not to mention the increase in Eleazar and Withering cases and a bunch of other things Alhaitham couldn’t be bothered with remembering. The most important thing to him was keeping Sharzad safe and happy.
Though she wasn’t happy right now.
He could tell by watching her fight. Her movements were decided, sure, more confident than they had been in the days where improvisation took her ten minutes. But they were deadly, rendered so by the anger festering in her mind. Alhaitham had gained several bruises on his chest, his arms, his legs, his throat , from Sharzad’s fast-paced, accurate bladework.
She was stronger these days, too, though it might be because she was bigger than she had been. Sometimes he wondered what she did in her room when the door was locked. Evidence pointed to some sort of exercise, something that was clearly doing a fantastic job at increasing her strength and her endurance.
Or, perhaps, Alhaitham was just getting too old and tired to keep up with her. That was another, possible, alternative.
~~~
Back again in the club. I hate my life.
Papa took me out to fight today, and we ended up having to beat up a whole Tumor of the Withering that appeared not too far from Sumeru City. First time I’ve even fought a rifthound, but it surprisingly turned out okay despite their OP hp-draining skill. Thank God I stocked up so many dishes, since they carried me through the mess. Unlike Papa, who nearly collapsed from the fight, meaning we had to stop and heal while he recovered. Turns out my gamer health stuff works on people the System considers party members. In this case, Papa was a party member, so he healed no problem.
Dad was at home today. He was working on an important commission for Pardis Dhyai’s newest expansion, and then told us that his mother sent a letter to me specifically. He’s had a slightly distant relationship with her, I know that, but at least he told her about me.
Grandma (I guess she’s Grandma, right?) wanted to wish me luck on my thesis defence, and ask if I’d like to visit Fontaine sometime once I’m free. I sent her a reply back saying absolutely. Going to Fontaine means exploring the place before the Fontaine quest. Maybe I’ll even meet some of the characters early!
Oh, I’d love to meet someone like Freminet or Charlotte! Even Arlecchino, although I think she’d be absolutely terrifying in person. At least she cares about the kids in the House of the Hearth, unlike the previous Knave.
I guess I’ll plan that trip with Dad and Papa, although if I go alone, I might get a better shot at exploring Fontaine. Either way, I’ll be in the Adventurers’ Guild, since I’ll sign myself up first thing on my birthday. I can’t believe I’ll finally get a regular source of primos! Maybe I’ll be able to wish on more weapons than just one every two years.
And I’ll be able to start gathering materials for myself. I still haven’t upgraded Xiphos’ Moonlight or Freedom Sworn, but adventuring should get me somewhere. I can’t wait to get stronger than level eighteen.
Honestly, I wonder what my level up material will be.
~~~
“Is the flower crown really necessary, Sharzad?”
She glowered at Kaveh. “Unfortunately, yes. Ever since I was elected the Queen of Vahumana, there have been expectations about me and my behaviour. So, sorry, Dad, but the crown is a necessity.” Reaching up to twist her hair in her fingers, she continued. “At least it’s not the metal one that someone made for me. That thing was too gaudy for anyone respectable to wear.”
Alhaitham watched Kaveh inspect the crown of white and yellow petals. The thing was too big for Sharzad’s head, making it look incredibly tiny by optical illusion. He found himself preferring the small, more subtle bands of flowers she wove when they spent a day outside the city, like she had on her eleventh birthday.
“I just hope Great Sage Ezhil won’t mind.”
“He is perfectly accepting of your title,” Alhaitham assured her. “In fact, he was outright defending you when Azar first brought it up at a meeting of the Six Sages.”
She hummed in reply, still twisting her hair. Whatever she felt, it was clearly still nerves , though she appeared loath to admit whatever troubled her.
Noticing this, Kaveh patted her shoulder. “Everything will be fine, Sharzad. I believe in you.”
Sharzad’s gaze travelled from Kaveh to Alhaitham, clearly judging him more than Kaveh. Perhaps because he was blunter than his boyfriend. “Do you ?”
“You have a very high chance of succeeding,” Alhaitham said. “You have spent years on this paper.”
“So do the people who fail.”
“The people who fail don’t have three people at the top of their respective fields proofreading their papers.” He crossed his arms. “You will do very well. And I’ll see you in the conference room when you’re ready.”
Sharzad still had a few hours left at home before she left for the Akademiya, but Alhaitham actually had work to do. Even though he would prefer to wait at home, he’d rather have his afternoon be free than his morning, so to his office he went. He found several requests (meaning demands) for grants on his desk, alongside a note from Cyno confirming that he and Tighnari would be at Sharzad’s graduation party in two weeks. It may have been hasty to plan a graduation party before her defence, but Alhaitham had no doubts that his daughter would pass. In fact, Gulnaz all but outright told him that she was already in the clear. The Queen of Vahumana doesn’t need any more luck. She’s in perfect shape.
The Queen of Vahumana . The term had become mainstream too quickly in Alhaitham’s opinion, a product of blind faith and following so common among the Akademiya’s students. Despite being a centre of knowledge and free thought, Akademiya students were more followers than leaders, so it was inevitable that Sharzad’s nickname would catch on given its prevalence in the student body. And now, it was impossible for anyone within Vahumana, and even in many Akademiya spaces, to detach Sharzad’s name from the unofficial title. It was like when she began being approached about joining clubs: shameless drivel, but drivel that stuck to his daughter like a magnet.
When he’d finished his work, Alhaitham packed up his things and left them in his office, before heading up to the conference room. Or, actually, to a satellite chamber where the adjudicators were meeting before entering the room itself. Sharzad had things to set up, much like many of the Akademiya’s graduates when they presented their findings, and it was best to leave her alone while she worked, otherwise she’d get anxious and panic while presenting.
He found Professors Gulnaz and Swarna waiting in the room, both in their normal Akademiya-sanctioned uniforms. There was no sign of Ezhil.
“Is Ezhil coming?” Alhaitham asked, although he already knew the answer to his question.
“Unfortunately, he got worse,” Gulnaz replied, head bowed. “I believe his illness has progressed too far for him. It may be best to say our prayers to Lesser Lord Kusanali for his good health.” Gesturing towards the door, she gestured forward. “So, shall we go?”
Alhaitham nodded, following as Gulnaz and Swarna entered the conference room, where they found Sharzad standing in front of her mounted sketches and nervously running her hands through her hair. To his disappointment, she still wore that blasted flower crown rather than an Akademiya hat, along with the robes of an Akademiya student she always wore when she was on school grounds.
In front of her was a long table behind which were several chairs. The three adults sat in the three chairs closest to Sharzad and her work, settling in for what would be over an hour’s worth of presentation and questioning.
“Is this everybody?” Sharzad asked.
“Great Sage Ezhil is sick,” Alhaitham explained as he set up his scribe’s tools on the table. He selected his stylus and let his hand drift into its normal place.
After a beat of silence, Professor Gulnaz waved a hand. “You may begin.”
Alhaitham began to write down his daughter’s every word.
“Yes.” Sharzad cleared her throat. “So, the invention of puzzles during Deshret’s era has always been a subject of fascination among Haravatat and Vahumana scholars, as well as Kshahrewar scholars during the past century. However, there was a barrier to knowledge due to a lack of exploration of specific puzzle-filled sites. I attribute this to the fact that no one had access to a Scarlet Sand Slate, or as the Deshreti called it, a Passport of Dunes. I have mine for reference right–”
BAM!
The two doors to the conference room burst open, as several masked and armed individuals rushed in. Dropping his stylus, Alhaitham summoned his sword, Dendro energy swirling around him, but he wasn’t fast enough. His hair was yanked back so a deadly sharpened blade could make perfect contact with his throat, the sound of his sword clattering to the ground filling the air.
Sharzad, too, had summoned her sword, but she dropped it at the sight of the blade at Alhaitham’s neck. Unlike with Alhaitham, the mercenary who had approached her didn’t threaten her, instead taking the Scarlet Sand Slate from Sharzad’s hands and tucked it inside a fabric bag.
The sound of something else dropping drew Alhaitham’s attention. It seemed Professor Swarna had outright fainted at the sight of the mercenaries in the room.
“ Alright, you have two options. ”
It took Alhaitham a second to recognise that they weren’t speaking Teyvan. They were speaking Deshreti. Fluent Deshreti.
What the abyss?
He focused on the mercenaries he could see, recognizing their green-adorned uniforms as those of the Corps of Thirty. But why would the Corps of Thirty be here?
Unless , it was something related to Alhaitham’s suspicions of the Akademiya’s corruption.
Cyno needs to know about this. Now.
The mercenary at Alhaitham’s throat continued. “ One, you come with us willingly. Two –” Alhaitham’s hair was pulled back further, and the cool blade pressed slightly further into his skin. “– he dies, and we bring you by force. ”
They want her. They want her and I can’t stop them. Not without dying first.
I can’t do that to Kaveh.
But if I don’t do anything, she might die.
He watched Sharzad’s wide eyes dart to Alhaitham, then the mercenary holding him prisoner, then to the one who had spoken in the first place.
“ Those are my only two options? ”
“ Yes. Choose. ”
Her eyes narrowed into a glare, jaw clenched. “ If I go with you, do you promise he will live? ”
“Sharzad, do not–” Alhaitham began.
The mercenary cut across him. “ Yes. ”
Without even looking at Alhaitham, she offered her hands. “ Then take me . ”
Horrified, Alhaitham watched two of the mercenaries bind Sharzad’s hands behind her back and many more join to escort her from the room. His last glimpse of his daughter before she vanished was the sight of her flower crown, still perched on her head.
He tensed his muscles, trying to see if he might wiggle out of the mercenary’s grip, but it was no use. Alhaitham was stuck, and his daughter was gone.
Someone chuckled. “Here I was thinking your daughter would be like you , Alhaitham. All stoic and self-centered. Valuing her freedom and safety over your life.” Gulnaz walked into his line of sight, standing tall for someone at least sixty, her gaze indecipherable. “But clearly, your philosophies didn’t rub off on her. Doesn’t that hurt? ”
It took Alhaitham less than a second to come to a conclusion about all of this. It’s Gulnaz. It was her this entire time. She’s the one who caused the problems.
Sharzad trusted her. It’s going to kill her to know the truth.
“Why did you take her?”
“We are simply righting past wrongs, Scribe.” Painted fingernails dragged across the top of the wooden table. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to discover her true identity. The desert needs its rightful ruler, after all.”
Alhaitham felt the sword dig into his neck as he tensed. “What do you mean?”
Gulnaz leaned in. “We’ve known about your little reincarnation research project,” she whispered, voice sickly sweet. “Thanks to you, we confirmed our suspicions, and will be reconnecting your daughter with her Divinity.” Smiling, she righted herself so she stood at full height. “Don’t worry about saving her, either. Her humanity will be lost to the sands under Deshret’s Mausoleum before you can even get there.” She glanced at one of the remaining mercenaries before turning around. “Knock him out.”
Notes:
Sorry for updating so late after the last chapter! I got really busy last week and didn't have time to post until today.
Notes are few this week since it's a really plot-heavy chapter without too much lore in it. I wanted to give Kaveh and Alhaitham's POVs a greater spotlight so Sharzad's thoughts are conveyed through her private diary, where she is free to be as pessimistic as she wants to be. The Queen thing will be revealed in depth in the next chapter, so you'll have to wait until next week for that lovely update :)
Also, since we don't have a name for Kshahrewar or Vahumana's actual Great Sages, I made up both of them so we put a name to the (nonexistent) face!
And Gulnaz, hahaha! I'd been planning on her villainy since the very beginning! Did any of you catch on earlier?
Hope you enjoyed, as always! :)
Chapter 17: Prologue: Sacrificial Sandstorm
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Sacrificial Sandstorm
Travel with your kidnappers to the pyramid of King Deshret
The popup naming the quest captured her attention for much of the trip outside Sumeru City, its persistent presence a bother until she finally managed to dismiss it by moving her head forward and nudging it with her nose.
“Where are we going?” she asked once the fake Corps of Thirty left the city behind and slowly began swapping their green clothing for purple and gold, the telltale colour scheme of Deshret. How on brand of them.
“ None of your business ,” the leader, a thickset, older guy, snapped in Deshreti.
“Oh, Deshreti?” She smirked. “I can do that, too. Where are we going?”
“ Repeat the question a third time and I will knock you out for the rest of the journey. ”
Well, Sharzad wanted to see where they were going, so she kept her mouth shut, and they continued in silence through the trees. Honestly, she should probably be fighting back by now, or panicking, but she’d rather guarantee Alhaitham and Kaveh’s safety than fight and risk them or her dying. She had too many things to do, and they had at least another fifty years of life in them.
The road the group took was one Sharzad vaguely recognized from her last expedition to the desert, and when she saw the wooden sign pointing the way to Caravan Ribat, she got the signal that this trip would be similar.
Great. Back to the desert I go.
At this point, she was exhausted from all the constant walking, thirsty beyond comprehension, and hungry . But she couldn’t say anything about this, not when her hands were bound and when her determination to see this through while still being conscious ran strong. She wasn’t sure whether the leader would leave her alone if she asked for basic human rights, but given this was Teyvat and things like the Geneva Conventions didn’t exist, it was more likely the guy would beat her to the brink of death or torture her rather than giving her food and water.
Honestly the mercenaries also looked exhausted by the sixth or seventh hour of nonstop travel, but unlike Sharzad, they didn’t seem to care, forcing her to get as far towards the desert before nightfall. In fact, when they passed around Caravan Ribat, through a small gap in the Wall of Samiel, they met up with a second group of mercenaries, these ones equipped with several sumpter beasts.
We’re just going to keep on walking forever?
Bullshit.
“ Word from Caravan Ribat ,” one of these new people told the guy in charge. “ The matra are on our tracks. ”
Sharzad forced herself not to breathe an audible sigh of relief. The matra meant one thing: Cyno. Cyno and the others are coming.
She’d be saved within hours, she was sure of it. Cyno was fast. It was kind of the whole point of his character teaser, wasn’t it? She hadn’t watched it in a long while, but she vaguely remembered something about tireless tracking and an epic beatdown of a corrupt scholar or something.
Cyno was definitely on his way.
The guy in charge glanced at the darkened sky. “ Then we’ll move quickly, around Aaru Village .”
Everyone sprang into action. The two people assigned to Sharzad personally dragged her to the top of one of the sumpter beasts and kept her planted between them as night fell and their desert trek began. At least she didn’t have to worry about having never ridden one before.
The sumpter beasts moved surprisingly quickly across the rough, untreaden terrain, bringing them around Aaru Village and past Sobek Oasis in a matter of what was probably a few hours. Or, Sharzad guessed it was a few hours, because she fell asleep at some point: it was still dark when she woke up, but they had crossed into the flatter, sandier parts of the Great Red Sands.
Night turned to day again as they stopped to trade sumpter beasts at an oasis ( how prepared are these people? She thought). They were near Deshret’s Mausoleum, close enough that Sharzad could see the door she had opened only five months prior. But they didn’t go that way.
The new sumpter beasts brought them past the mausoleum, further into the western desert than Sharzad had ever travelled. The cyclone above Deshret’s pyramid blocked out all sunlight as they travelled, turning day into an appropriate hellish red inferno. As the day continued, the beasts took them past the Dune of Elusion temple (another yet-unopened one) to the Dune of Magma where, just nearby, an opening to a tunnel allowed them to descend underground.
The mercenaries quickly dragged Sharzad back off the sumpter beast, bringing her to the middle of the party, which had gathered at the tunnel entrance.
A rough hand grabbed the front of her shirt, forcing her to make eye contact with the man in charge. “ Take your last glimpse of the sun, because you won’t ever be seeing it again, ” he declared, voice not a warning, but light with mirth. Like it was funny that she was being dragged into the depths of the desert caverns.
Sharzad glared at him. “ That’s what you think. ”
He openly laughed at her and, after setting her down, began escorting them into the tunnels. They emerged in a large cavern filled with sand and stones. No enemies or puzzles to be found, just empty sand, stone, and dead shrubbery. No enemies except for the people bringing her along, and for the encampment just a little farther down.
They brought her towards the group of tents, forcing her towards one at the very edge of the camp. This tent was simple, but surrounded by armed guards at all sides, all keeping an eye on her.
As a pair of them finally untied her hands, Sharzad found herself recognising one of the mercenaries guarding her.
“ Sakineh?! ”
The woman didn’t even spare her a glance. Between her presence in this weird-ass cult meeting and this new phenomenon of ignoring her, Sharzad could easily figure out that Sakineh was on the side of her kidnappers, whoever the head of the operation was. She had probably always been part of this operation—it appeared to be one that had been planned for a while, after all.
Meaning that whole conversation in the pyramid about fighting as a team, trusting people, and the Eremites caring about children, it had been a ploy to get closer to her. It had almost definitely been a way to discover the secrets of Deshret without funding an expedition.
“Don’t ignore me!” Voice rising at her newfound betrayal, Sharzad switched over to Deshreti. “ I know you recognize me! ”
Sakineh continued to ignore her. Sharzad was quickly distracted by another mercenary arriving in the area, and when she looked back to Sakineh, she had vanished.
“ Water and food .” The man unceremoniously dropped a gourd and a bowl of some brown-coloured meat in her lap. “ Eat. We have less than two hours until the ritual is due to start .”
“ Ritual? ”
“ You’ll find out soon .”
Sharzad wrinkled her nose, but began eating the meat, which she discovered tasted absolutely horrendous. To distract herself from the taste, she watched the other people in the camp as she munched on the scraps. They passed the bag that contained her Scarlet Sand Slate across the camp, until it vanished up a stone staircase, along with a small group of people.
As she ate, the people around her began, once again, to change their attire, this time to clothing reminiscent of the traditional clothing of priests and soldiers during Deshret’s era, the kind she might have seen in representations of Ancient Egypt on Earth. It was strange to watch, stranger still when some of the mercenaries—women, thankfully, though they remained incredibly unfriendly—brought her inside the guarded tent to change out of her Akademiya clothing into something else: versions of the armour the others wore, only more ornate, and no shoes whatsoever.
Oh, and they took away her flower crown, which she had painstakingly woven for her final thesis presentation.
“That’s mine!” she yelped as one of the women tossed the crown and her clothing into a fire pit in the centre of the room.
“Not anymore,” one of the women said as she casually braided portions of Sharzad’s hair into a more elaborate hairstyle.
Outside the tent, loud chanting took over the quiet chatter of the encampment’s occupants, and the women inside the tent escorted Sharzad out, looking less like intimidating mercenaries and more like royal attendants.
A crowd had gathered in the centre of the encampment, cheering a single word on repeat to the two people standing in front of them. “ Deshret! Deshret! ”
The two people in the front faced away from Sharzad, and in her disorientated state, she couldn’t figure out if she recognised them or not. The new clothing didn’t help, either.
One of the leaders began to speak. “ Tonight, we right the wrongs of millenia past! We bring back our god-king and bring Sumeru out of this age of weakness into a golden age like no other! ”
More cheers. It was chaos, people celebrating amidst open flames with overflowing cups of wine and ancient clothing that better fit an ancient revel than a modern . . . celebration? Celebration felt like the wrong word when this was clearly a fucking cult meeting.
She kept being pushed forward, even as the leaders continued to speak.
“ Now, presenting our future ruler, the reincarnation of Deshret himself, Sharzad Athari! ” the other leader turned towards her, hand extended in a grand gesture of welcome, of presentation .
Sharzad froze in her tracks. Not because the person was old. Not because the person was clearly evil or anything like that. It was because, in front of the crowd, stood none other than Bhaskara and Professor Gulnaz. Her brain seemed to freeze as she attempted to process what was going on.
Three betrayals in one day. Fucking hell, I’m turning into Scaramouche.
She glared at them. “What the fuck are you guys doing?!”
Unsurprisingly, both her former teachers ignored her outburst.
“ Already known as the Queen of the Akademiya, our genius friend is about to reconnect with her divinity by dying and returning to life! ” Gulnaz raised her cup of wine to the sound of raucous cheers. “ Ah, shall we get started? ”
And, with a hit to the back of the head, Sharzad was promptly knocked out.
~~~
She’s here, Amun, we won’t have much of a choice, soon.
Do not ask me to give her anything. I do not care if she will be able to handle the power—she is still a mortal. No matter the blessing from some force outside Teyvat, her body will crumble from my power.
Fine. Suffer in silence, Amun.
I’m going to do what I have to do. She is too important to lose so early.
~~~
The smell of something absolutely horrible jolted her out of her slumber. She opened her eyes to the sight of Bhaskara removing a small, dark-coloured vial from under her nose, his expression completely blank as he withdrew.
It took her a few moments to inspect her surroundings, to realise that she was in a room filled with those same mercenaries and soldiers, all forming a large half-circle around her, Gulnaz, and Bhaskara. In front of her was a strange human shaped box—a coffin like Deshret’s fake one. What the fuck.
Oh, and past the coffin was a large, glowing contraption that sent blue light scattering around the triangular ceiling like they were under the ocean rather than under the pyramid.
Wait, I recognise this room! That mechanism—it leads to the platform above the pyramid!
“Welcome back to the Great Hall of Truths, Sharzad,” Gulnaz said in Teyvan. “For all this, I am truly sorry about what must happen. Restoring your Divinity will be painful, but it is a necessary pain.”
“What are you doing?” She struggled with the people holding her steady, failing miserably due to her exhaustion and considerably lower physical strength. “Where’s my slate?”
Her professor— former professor—put her hands behind her back like she was teaching Sharzad rather than doing something more nefarious. “We have to bring you to the edge of death, Sharzad.” What the fuck. “Create enough pressure to jolt your memories into action.” What the fuck. “You’ll connect to His Majesty’s full memories as soon as your body goes into self-defence mode.”
What the fuck.
His Majesty —Deshret. This was about Deshret. Bringing back Deshret. Resurrecting him through–through her. This was about putting Deshret’s soul in her body.
“You want Deshret back. And it’s either because you want to restore the desert to its glory, or because you want Forbidden Knowledge.” She shook her head at Gulnaz. “It won’t work—I’m not Deshret.”
Gulnaz clapped slowly, derision clear in every single movement she made. “Fantastic work, my dear.” Then, lowering her hands, she smiled at Sharzad. “Although you valiantly tried, you cannot lie to me—I know your darling fathers already told you the truth about your reincarnation.”
Her mouth dropped open against her better judgement. She knows. She knows everything.
“Don’t pretend you haven’t been distant from your fathers,” Bhaskara added softly, creeping closer towards her. “We have eyes everywhere, Sharzad, especially when it concerns you.”
“You planted those Eremites on my expedition five months ago.” Sharzad tried to struggle again. “And those students approaching me for no reason—that was all you.”
“The Queen of Vahumana title, too. Credit should be given where it’s due.”
Sharzad spat at him. To her satisfaction, Bhaskara recoiled.
“No matter,” Gulnaz said. “We have wasted enough time—you will return to your true self in the next few minutes, Sharzad.” Speaking her next words in Deshreti, she looked at the two mercenaries holding Sharzad’s arms. “ Lock her in the coffin. It’s time we start this ritual for real .”
Everyone snapped into action at once.
Sharzad’s screams and shrieks became muffled by a hand placed over her mouth, as the two—now three—mercenaries brought her towards the coffin and pushed her inside. She had no chance to fight, as the heavy lid was lowered over her head just as quickly as she was brought into the coffin.
Every single sound vanished, as did sensation. There was nothing here but her ragged breaths, and the sound of her knuckles tapping, scraping, pushing on the coffin’s thick wooden walls. Or was it her toes? Her feet?
Mini map! Map! Map! She thought frantically at the System, only to be met with a tiny glowing pop up.
You cannot teleport while a cutscene is in progress.
The absurdity of the statement sent her into a greater panic. She was trapped. Trapped in a locked coffin, surrounded by people who wanted her dead.
I’m going to die. I’m going to die.
She couldn’t— wouldn’t —scream anymore despite the horror of the situation. Fear was beyond her now. Everything left ahead was death, death, death. She should have fought when she had the chance. She should have done something smarter before this. She should have been more wary earlier.
But she was weak. Weak from lack of food, lack of water, lack of sleep. Weak from two straight days of travelling and from the sight of Gulnaz and Bhaskara willingly tossing her in a sarcophagus to die. Willingly sacrificing her to King Deshret.
I’m sorry. I should have been better.
Oh, she should have killed Gulnaz and Bhaskara. Should have made a dramatic last stand despite her weakness. Died by her own hand to stop them from resurrecting a god who might or might not be insane or evil.
What destruction was about to be wreaked across all of Sumeru?
Her head felt lighter now, colours swimming across her vision like little rainbow fishes. Hypoxia, right? She’d read about it, once. Tighnari warned her about it when he lectured her about going too deep underground, about going near gas vents from the very bowels of the earth, about avoiding things related to the abyss.
Hypoxia. He said it would be like falling asleep. And, indeed, all Sharzad wanted to do was dream .
~~~
She’s dying, Amun, let me do something!
I am not about to allow you to give up your power for a mortal. I do not care.
At least let me speak with her. Please.
Ugh, very well. Do what you must.
Thank you.
~~~
The colours in her sight boldened, turning the shade of blue so common in Deshreti monuments, the pale blue of the primal embers, of the gems inlaid in doors and mechanisms, of the translucent gates blocking the path down certain hallways, of the desert sky on the clearest of days.
And then she stood in a throne room, feet firmly on the ground.
Taking a moment to centre herself and prepare for whatever twisted afterlife she ended up in, Sharzad looked around, trying to make sense of her new surroundings.
The columns here were thicker, more ornate than any others Sharzad had ever seen. The torches were bigger, made not of primal embers but of actual, crackling fire . Everywhere she looked she spotted flowers, vines, plants like Venus flytraps and pitcher plants in both their normal small sizes and so, so big that Sharzad could fit her whole body inside. At the very end of the long, long hall was a towering statue of a falcon-headed god and, in front of it, illuminated by the rays of the sun, a throne in which sat a man.
Sharzad walked closer. “Hello?”
“ Mortal .”
No, not a man, she realised. That voice was too unreal to be human. It rumbled with the sands and stones, it echoed across the hall and within her mind, it spoke of millennia of history, of mere moments, of everything that ever was and would ever be.
He didn’t have a falcon head, unlike the statue behind him, but the headdress he wore resembled one, all pointed beak and feathers extending upwards and outwards. She guessed his hair was dark, but it was too well hidden beneath the already dark crown covering his head. In terms of clothing, he reminded Sharzad of Cyno, if Cyno actually wore a full (well, still cropped) halter top as well as longer, looser pants with his belt-skirt thing and ornate collar. Although, this stranger’s collar was more ornate, and extended into a long white cloak. She now recognized his clothing as the clothes she had been given, minus the falcon-headed crown and the cloak.
So they clearly had intended to jolt memories of him back into her body.
“Are you—Deshret?”
He didn’t move a muscle as he spoke, besides those pertaining to speech itself. Everything in his body was rigid, posture straight and muscles tense. “ They brought you in an effort to resurrect me. Their efforts were in vain. You are not me. ”
She gritted her teeth as his voice sent splintering headaches through her skull. “Yeah? Well, I didn’t ask for the ritual or the spies or the betrayals.”
“ Neither did I. It’s a shame, you will die for nothing. Gods do not reincarnate if we are not fully dead, after all. ”
“ He’s lying! You won’t die just yet! ”
This was a friendlier voice, although much like Deshret’s, it was inhuman, resonating instead with the flowers in the room and the hope still burning in Sharzad’s chest than any sand, any fear, any mind.
Nilou was the first thought in Sharzad’s head.
The goddess of flowers wore mostly pink and gold, to her surprise, and an outfit eerily similar to Nilou’s default outfit. Her long, thin veil flowed around her long double braids with the grace of a dancer, contrasting deeply with her shining brown eyes and skin, and the gold and brown horns sprouting from her head. She didn’t stay with Deshret, instead directly approaching Sharzad and checking her over for any injuries.
“ Our power is the only thing keeping you in stasis, little one. We must move quickly if you are to get back to your family. ”
“ She is an offering, Nabu Malikata. I cannot let her go. There are laws. ”
The goddess turned to her lover with a laugh. “ Since when do you listen to Celestia? ” When she turned back to Sharzad, her expression was one of can you believe him? incredibly familiar to her. Because it was the same expression Kaveh wore when he was (affectionately) exasperated with Alhaitham. “ I can perhaps help you free yourself, but it will come at a cost. ”
“Do I get to live?”
“ Yes. But you will burden yourself with the power of a god. I cannot even guarantee that it will work, but given the blessing you clearly received upon reincarnation, your body should be able to handle- ”
Deshret banged his fist on his throne’s armrest, sending tremors down the hall. “ Nabu Malikata, I told you already: don’t you dare. ”
“ He gets so cranky .” Another laugh from the Goddess of Flowers before she sobered. “ We are shades, Sharzad, and this will sap much of our existing power to wander, which is already quite weak. I cannot tell you if we will be bound to you or to this mausoleum yet, but it shall be one of them. ”
“So I have the potential of having two gods bound to my soul for all eternity?”
“ Unless you die, ” Deshret said with the finality of a coffin lid shutting.
“ Don’t be so depressing, Amun. ” Nabu Malikata stared intently at Sharzad. “ We will make a deal, Sharzad Athari. Hold up your end of the bargain, and you will own a significant amount of my remaining power and Divinity for as long as you live. ”
“So I will—what?” She held up a hand. “Become a god?”
“ Not quite. Your lifespan will likely be greatly increased, but you will not be a god. Only Celestia is able to do that these days. ”
“So I get power, you possibly get to wander with me for the rest of my life, and what else?” She crossed her arms. “You have to want something, goddess. Everyone does.”
This brought a chuckle from Deshret, but he didn’t say anything else. Possibly, Sharzad’s dramatics and endless questions simply entertained him. How great that in her possible last moments she would serve as the king’s jester.
Nabu Malikata only held a hand out to Sharzad. “ It is simple: swear to preserve Teyvat, to strive to keep humanity alive, to right the wrongs of the Primordial One and take revenge for the loss of my people, the Seelie. ”
Sharzad swallowed. Making the deal with the Lord of Flowers would bind her to her mission in permanence. She would have no wiggle-room if things went south, if she found out some information that demonstrated that the Primordial One wasn’t the root cause of Teyvat’s problems. However , she still needed this power. She needed to escape the coffin if she wanted to do anything else, like save the seven nations from their individual (and overcomplicated) problems.
It didn’t take a lot to agree to make a deal with a god, but maybe it was just because Sharzad was incredibly impulsive these days. And desperate.
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
“ Sharzad Athari, do you even realise what you are saying? ” Deshret stood from his throne, walking forward with an air of menace that required no weapon to create. Simply walking forward radiated pure power that, had Sharzad not been a teenager with too much audacity for her own good, would have made her cower in fear. His eyes—one the blue of the desert sky, the other the yellow-orange of the desert’s sands—radiated authority, a message to bow because he was the desert’s undeniable ruler. “ Do you realise what you are binding yourself to? ”
“Yes. And I’m willing to do it.” She tilted her head at him. “What? Do you want to make a deal, too? I can take it.”
“Your hubris will be your doom.” He sighed. “But very well, mortal. I would like to see what madness you unleash on the Heavenly Principles. It will be entertaining, at the very least.”
She sighed. At least he was honest. “What do you want, Deshret?”
“End the Heavenly Principles’ tyranny. And always strive for the truth and seek to discover the deep-rooted secrets of Teyvat. Fulfil my demands, and you will have unlimited access to each of my domains and to all of my possessions including my weaponry, and selective use of my authority and power as ruler and god of the desert.” Pausing, he gave her a moment to consider what he told her. “That is my deal. Will you take it?”
Sharzad took a breath. What’s another deal with a god? “No other terms and conditions? For either of you?”
“ None, little one. ”
“ We aren’t those damned Jinn ,” Deshret added, voice bitter.
Sharzad swallowed a laugh, since Deshret’s statement sounded more like a petulant third-grader than the feared King of the Red Sands. “Then yes. I’ll take the deals. How do we seal them?”
Deshret held out his hand in a clear command for Sharzad to take it. The moment their skin made contact, she felt as if every muscle in her body was turning to sand. No strength, no feeling, no power. She desperately wanted to collapse to the floor, but she somehow managed to keep herself standing as Deshret began to speak, the burning, painful sensation growing worse with every word out of Deshret’s mouth, like his power was flowing out of him into her .
“ Do you, Sharzad Athari, accept the terms of my bargain? To end the Heavenly Principles’ tyranny, to strive for truth and knowledge even in the most uncomfortable of situations, in exchange for the terms outlined a minute prior, included unlimited access to my domains and possessions, and selective use of my full authority and power as the true monarch of the desert? ”
Shaking from the power entering her body, but still determined to see this true, Sharzad nodded. “Yes.”
“ So you have said it, so it shall be. ”
Deshret set his other hand on the inside of Sharzad’s wrist, holding it there as Sharzad’s skin burned hotter than any hilichurl arrow or any cooking mistake could cause. Everything in her world was hot hot hot until she was certain that, had she simply been sleeping outside this dream world, she would have woken up by now. Groaning, she stumbled back as soon as Deshret allowed her to move.
Pale blue smoke rose from her skin, blocking her vision until it finally ceased to rise, revealing what Deshret had done: he’d branded her wrist with the symbol of a light blue eye within an eight-pointed star, the sun. His symbol.
“ My deal is not so painful, I promise ,” Nabu Malikata said as she stepped forward. “ I do not make a habit of branding my underlings. Or my allies. ” She shot Deshret a stern look that he rebuffed with a lazy waved hand.
Still smiling at Sharzad, the Lord of Flowers brought forth a padisarah, coloured a rich purple instead of blue-purple counterparts that existed in the real world.
“ Do you permit me to weave a portion of my power into your essence, Sharzad? Do you permit me to enhance your potential to that of a god, in exchange for preserving Teyvat, for protecting humanity, for avenging my kind who were lost to the whims of the Primordial One? ”
Sharzad nodded once. “Absolutely I do.”
She didn’t see what Nabu Malikata did next, as she hugged Sharzad so closely that her vision was taken over by the goddess’s pink hair. The sweet smell of flowers that filled her nose slowly grew stronger as it gained a second source. As her body and very soul changed to accommodate the power Nabu Malikata wove into her being, the power that she felt thrumming and pulsing beneath her skin like a second heartbeat. The heartbeat of a god.
When the goddess withdrew, she gently brushed a piece of Sharzad’s hair from her face. “ You will need practice to manage these abilities, but I have no doubt you will succeed, little one. ”
“ You’ll be back to your body in seconds, ” Deshret added. “ Do not disappoint us, Envoy of the Scorned Gods. ”
Notes:
It all comes to a head, wooooooooooo!
1) The cult's whole deal is that they want to resurrect King Deshret, and because of various things about Sharzad (and her fathers' research into reincarnation), they falsely believed that she is the reincarnation of Deshret, when that is not true at all, lol (I love a case of mistaken identity)
2) Turns out a decent chunk of the stuff going wrong/weird in Sharzad's life has been because of Gulnaz and Bhaskara. Oops. And a lot of betrayals, too. Double oops.
3) I heavily considered leaning more into the Alhaitham is Deshret and Kaveh is Nabu Malikata theory but I decided to make their relationships similar rather than outright making them reincarnations of the gods because there's enough going on in this story without throwing in a bunch of other reincarnation stuff lol (the original idea even had Alhaitham and Kaveh remembering their past lives when they showed up to save Sharzad)
4) Power!! The relationship between the gods, archons, dragons, and Celestia in Teyvat is so complicated and interesting, and knowing what we know from dragons like Neuvillette and Apep and their relationships with the gods (and Celestia), there's a lot of enmity between everyone. I thought it'd be cool for Sharzad to play a role of messenger of sorts, a kind of herald and executioner of the gods' (and the dragons') desires for revenge, particularly against Celestia. And then I threw in the deals because why not, you know?
Hope you enjoyed!! I'll probably update sometime in the next week unless I get really busy again: I re-edit my chapters before posting them and that can take time if I do an overhaul of a scene or two
Chapter 18: Prologue: Rescue Mission
Notes:
Tiniest warning of bloodshed ahead. Nothing particularly graphic but just in case people aren't fans of that :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Sacrificial Sandstorm
Defeat the mercenaries
Something was wrong. Kaveh could feel it.
Well, not feel it, but he knew something was wrong based entirely on the fact that Alhaitham showed up to their home thirty minutes after Sharzad’s presentation was due to start, holding a cloth bag to the back of his head. Given he was supposed to be with Sharzad right now, it only meant bad news.
And, true to his nature, Alhaitham wasted no time with pleasantries. “Kaveh, we’re leaving right now.”
“Haitham, what–” he narrowed his eyes, noticing that his daughter hadn’t followed his junior home. “Where’s Sharzad?”
“Gone.” Alhaitham picked the framework of Kaveh’s new mechanical briefcase off the floor and unceremoniously placed it on the nearby table ( placed it, not dumped it. He had actually been careful—Kaveh loved this man). “We’re leaving for the desert with Cyno and Tighnari right now.”
Kaveh seized Alhaitham’s wrist. “ Where is our daughter?”
“She was kidnapped .” Alhaitham’s gaze was angrier than Kaveh had ever seen it, even when his lover was being possessive of him. This was a different kind of anger, no doubt brought on by their daughter being in danger somewhere he couldn’t reach. “Gulnaz brought a group of Eremite mercenaries into the examination room, coerced Sharzad into going with them by threatening my life–”
“They threatened you?! ”
Alhaitham put a finger over Kaveh’s lips. “Let me finish.” He slowly removed the aforementioned finger when Kaveh nodded. “Sharzad went with them. Gulnaz told me their entire plan and had me knocked out in what I can only assume was a foolish attempt to stop me from remembering what she told me.”
But of course his Haitham remembered. Knocking out a pissed-off genius had no bearing on whether he remembered or not, especially when that genius happened to be Alhaitham.
“They also wanted to stop us from following,” Kaveh said.
“Obviously.” He looked Kaveh up and down. “Get your vision now—we’re meeting at the western entrance to the city.”
Spurred into action by the command, Kaveh sprinted into their room, snatched his vision from a shelf and hooked it to his belt. When he returned to the living room, he found Alhaitham staring intently at a leather journal no doubt filched from Sharzad’s room, its contents hand-drawn with the accuracy and practised hand of their daughter.
“Where are they taking her?” Kaveh asked, peering over Alhaitham’s shoulder at the detailed map of the desert, hand-drawn by Sharzad. “Do you know?”
“The mausoleum.” Alhaitham dragged a finger over the map, pausing over the pyramid. “At least two days’ journey, even without stopping.” He snapped the journal shut. “I’m taking this with me.”
Kaveh blinked. “Look, I adore you, sweetheart, but that’s her private journal. We can’t take that.”
Without a word, Alhaitham turned the book around so that Kaveh could clearly see the neat lettering on the front, also written in Sharzad’s hand: Adventuring Journal Vol. 2, Mausoleum Expedition.
“Oh.” He narrowed his eyes. “Is she planning on writing a book series?”
Alhaitham shrugged.
“I’ll have to ask her.” Suddenly remembering why they were standing with the journal in the first place, Kaveh turned towards the door. “And we should be leaving to get to her. Come on!”
He waited for Alhaitham to lock the door before sprinting forward, stopping only when he noticed that his boyfriend wasn’t next to him. Jogging back in the direction of the house, he found Alhaitham walking at a brisk pace, but nowhere near running.
“Why aren’t you running?” he demanded.
“Perhaps I wouldn’t want to cause a panic,” Alhaitham said serenely.
“Haitham, you don’t care about other people when Sharzad’s involved. I’ve seen you fully toss people aside in order to get rare books for her.” Kaveh crossed his arms. “What is it?”
Alhaitham’s eyes travelled upwards, the closest he could possibly get to an eyeroll, even when Kaveh was involved. “Fine. Being knocked out concussed me, and unless I want more brain damage, I can’t run or fight.”
He couldn’t suppress his teasing grin. “So you finally admit to having brain damage.”
This return to their bickering, only for a moment, brought Alhaitham slightly closer to earth, his own smile peeking through the curtain of focus drawn across his face.
“Not in that way. Shut your mouth.”
“I’m pretty sure you prefer it wide open around your– hey! Don’t just run off!”
Well, Alhaitham certainly wasn’t running off, but his brisk pace was faster than what Kaveh anticipated, and so he found himself scrambling to catch up to his boyfriend, who brought them to the western gate in half the time it normally took to get from their apartment to the city gates.
A small group of matra and Corps of Thirty members had gathered around Cyno, Tighnari, and Faruzan— Faruzan?
“You’re coming, Madam Faruzan?” Kaveh asked, surprised that she, too, was coming. Her ties to Sharzad were perhaps stronger than Tighnari or Cyno’s, but she was still a researcher with no experience in rescue missions. It would have been safer for her to stay in Sumeru City, no?
Faruzan gave him an unimpressed look. “Sharzad is my student. I have every right to be here.”
Kaveh opened his mouth to counter her, but Cyno cut across him.
“We’re not arguing right now,” he ordered, voice a low grumble about as close to a growl as one could get. “Grab your supplies, both of you—we’re leaving for Caravan Ribat now. ”
“He’s sent word to prepare sumpter beasts and supplies for the desert portion of the trip,” Tighnari added as one of the matra handed Kaveh and Alhaitham bags of supplies. “We’ll arrive in Caravan Ribat and cross the desert overnight.”
A quick glance inside the bag showed that it was full of rations, water, and medical supplies, all necessary when it came to desert travel and especially for a rescue mission.
“Thank Celestia you’re the General Mahamatra, Cyno,” Kaveh said as they began to walk down the long road towards the desert. “We don’t have to waste time gathering supplies.”
“Don’t thank me just yet. We have a long walk to Caravan Ribat.”
A long walk indeed. Kaveh had taken enough trips to the desert (both with Sharzad and many without her) to be familiar with the road to Caravan Ribat. Still, he wasn’t all that familiar with some of the shortcuts Cyno took, especially those that disregarded the wooden signs indicating the correct way to the trade outpost village.
During the walk, Alhaitham shared what Gulnaz had, about how the professor believed Sharzad was Deshret’s reincarnation, that they were going to do something nefarious to her in order to connect her with Divinity that wasn’t hers in the first place. They also had to explain the reincarnation thing to Faruzan, who reacted surprisingly well for someone discovering that her prized pupil was mentally ten years older than she appeared, but perhaps it was because Faruzan was more used to the idea of reincarnation than the others had been in the beginning. It had been much more widespread in her time, before Azar and his predecessors began clamping down on certain sin-adjacent topics.
By the time they actually arrived in the village in question, Kaveh was deeply exhausted, and actually quite grateful for the moment Cyno told them to stop and rest while he interrogated a few suspicious characters the matra discovered. Night was falling by now, too, and Kaveh couldn’t help but wonder what Sharzad was doing right now? Was she even okay? And most concerning—was she still alive?
Cyno eventually returned, bearing news that the suspects in question—Eremites who wore purple and gold rather than any red—admitted that they’d smuggled a girl through a hole in the Wall of Samiel before bringing her towards the desert. Human cargo. That’s what the suspects called her.
“Let me at them,” Kaveh said angrily when he heard this. “I’d like to teach them a lesson about calling my daughter cargo. ”
Alhaitham nodded in agreement, and both men still looked pissed as they mounted the two Sumpter Beasts provided and began to take the road past Aaru Village, towards the greater desert. Neither father had been allowed to lay a hand on the captured mercenaries despite their furious desire to do so.
This was when Alhaitham encouraged him to sleep a while, and reminded him that he would wake Kaveh up when it was his turn to replace Faruzan as their beast’s guide.
~~~
Ŏ̴͇̬͙r̵̡̛̛͆i̸̺͕͌̈́̍̔̈́͊a̷͚̤̻͔̥̓̋̋͌͗̾̔̀̒x̵̥̹̝͎̿͂̃͑͐̇̈͊͒̾͝͝, do not do what I think you’re about to do.
Do you want this project to end soon? Look at her, on the verge of death. She will not even be in control until her instincts give up their newfound power. Until then, she will be beholden to her rage and nothing else, and when the power fades, she will weaken and die anyway.
If the H̷̹̦͉̍̈́͠͝ͅē̶̫a̴̪̗̾͒̑̌v̵̨̥̮͗̓͑͝ẹ̵̳̲͓̔n̸̥͓͖͋̔̅̕ͅl̴̡̧͝ý̶̠̼̣̔̚ ̵͙̗̆͊́P̵͈̦͗͝r̵̲̞̜͊̇͜͝ḭ̵̡̣̈́̓̿̿ͅn̵̲̘̟̺̑̂̊̈́c̷͚̫̋̈́̿͘ỉ̸̧̩͙̫͑̀p̸̯̓͐̑̑l̶̙̻̇̌ȩ̷̡̪̣́͊̋s̵͎̮̒͘̚͜ hear about this, the project ends.
They will think it an anomaly. I will shut her body down when she comes out of this and make the necessary modifications. Otherwise, she dies from the elemental energy and these efforts are for nothing.
You will scare her fathers.
That’s a price I’m willing to pay, N̷̩̮̍̈̎̿͝a̸̡̗̜̓b̷̨̘̋͆͝e̶̡͎̩̩̒̒͘r̴͎̝͐̾͝ͅí̵̡̧̢̘̏u̴̢̮̻̰͎͊s̶̹̦̞͖̗͗. Fear in exchange for a renewed lifespan.
Enjoy explaining this all to her!
I intend on blaming you.
Hmm. Thank you for giving me the credit!
~~~
They stopped at Sobek Oasis to give the beasts water when dawn began to break.
“Where are we going now, Cyno?” Faruzan asked. “You can’t expect to wander around the desert for much longer.”
“The mercenaries we interrogated mentioned tunnels in the western desert. and Alhaitham says Gulnaz was working with them.” Cyno turned to face the desert in a move Kaveh found rather dramatic. “There’s only one place they could be: Bhaskara’s dig site.”
“Bhaskara’s working with them?” Tighnari echoed. “When did we hear that?”
“It does make sense.” Alhaitham put his hand on his forehead. “Bhaskara is Gulnaz’s protege. They’ve worked on hundreds of projects together. He must have been digging for so long without a break in order to discover something important. Something they need in order to reconnect Sharzad with her Divinity .” He, too, turned to face the desert. “So we continue onward, until we find the temple at the Dune of Magma.”
“What are we waiting for?” Kaveh demanded. “Let’s go! ”
The day wore on once more, this one marked by much more exhaustion, as they had been walking for a while now, pausing only to catch their breaths, or to trade who was sitting on the beasts and who was guiding them by hand. The sun thankfully vanished behind the cyclone at Deshret’s Pyramid, but it was still surprisingly hot, not to mention the fact that they were doing quite a lot of exercise by walking for so long over such a long distance.
Wind whirled over the dunes, sending particles of sand dancing across their skin and dangerously near their eyes. Thankfully, the matra had prepared face coverings in their supply bags, so they had something to shield the majority of their faces from the sand and the dust.
Kaveh forced his exhaustion down along with his hopelessness, despite its constant nagging as they continued to find no trace of human activity or of his daughter. Still, Kaveh was human, and as the sky beyond the cyclone darkened and the pale red light cast over the sands became the only light cast over the sands, he began giving into despair. He dragged his legs across the sand at a sluggish pace, head hung low.
“We keep going until we find her,” he muttered to himself. “She’s got to be close.”
The heat wore on, until in front of them loomed the temple of the Dune of Magma, one of four satellite temples to Khemenu Temple and Deshret’s Mausoleum itself. A small oasis in front of it provided them and their sumpter beasts a short rest, until they were rather rudely interrupted by an attempted ambush.
Attempted being the word because Tighnari and Cyno’s hyperactive senses quickly spotted the intruders before they even appeared on the horizon.
The four adults capable of fighting (Alhaitham wanted to join but Tighnari seemed two seconds away from knocking him out again, something that sent Alhaitham into a bout of obedience surprising for anyone that knew him well) made quick work of the intruders, who clearly weren’t expecting to fight vision-bearers with experience in desert combat and knowledge of elemental reactions. Between Cyno’s Electro, Tighnari and Kaveh’s Dendro, and Faruzan’s Anemo, the enemies were no match for them.
Cyno ensured only one of the intruders was left awake, and, looking quite annoyed now, lifted the woman by the scruff of her linen shirt. Peering directly into her face, he spoke in a low, dangerous tone. “You are going to show us where your base is, or so help me I will rip you and your comrades to shreds.”
She nodded, not answering with anything besides a whimper, before leading them away from the oasis, towards a small set of ruins not too far away. Within the rubble was an opening just large enough for a small cart to pass through if carried by a team of people.
Pointing down the tunnel, she said, “You can’t miss it.”
“This better be the truth,” Cyno said.
“It is! I swear!”
Alhaitham kicked her legs out from under her, and Kaveh knocked her out with a kick to the jaw. Then, after dragging her into the tunnel and away from any outside dangers, they abandoned her in order to journey further down.
It took a while for them to reach the bottom, but eventually they arrived in a massive cavern, at one end of which was an encampment, built near a ruined staircase leading somewhere inside the rock. Any archaeological tools in the vicinity lay discarded in some outlying tents. The majority of the tents were full of abandoned clothes, half-finished meals, and other items like weapons and supplies that Alhaitham knew couldn’t be used in a ritual scenario.
Certainly not a Deshreti one.
However, the ruins definitely were. The ruins from which came the far-away chanting of many voices in tandem. The band of five jumped into action, following the voices down several twisting hallways until they reached their next obstacle: a very large room with no floor. Or, rather, there had been a floor once , but it had clearly crumbled into the blue-tinted abyss Alhaitham could see from where he stood, on the edge of the room itself.
Thankfully, somehow, there were several Four-Leaf Sigils floating atop bits of floor suspended by some force or magic, and a few wind current generators that permitted access to the other side of the hall. There, two falcon headed statues guarded the door to a room where Alhaitham could see some glowing blue structure and a large crowd of people facing something in the centre of the room.
Now, Alhaitham wasn’t one to pray, but given the size of the crowd, of the room, of the operation, he had to pray that Sharzad was, somehow, still alive. And, more importantly, still herself. He wasn’t sure if he could realistically deal with a daughter possibly driven mad by the memories and Divinity of King Deshret himself.
Exchanging a serious glance with Kaveh, Alhaitham leapt into action, jumping across the void with Four-Leaf Sigil after Four-Leaf Sigil, until he stumbled to a halt on the other side of the long room. It was exhausting to travel this way, and taking three sigils in quick succession would be tiring for any non-Forest Ranger, even more so because of the long trip to get to this point in the first place.
The moment Kaveh joined him, the pair slowly climbed the stairs towards the room above, where they found the crowd shielding their eyes at the glow coming from the gilded coffin sitting on a raised platform. Alhaitham recognised the back of Gulnaz’s head from where she stood at the front of the crowd, clearly ready to kneel as the coffin slowly slid open. After scanning the room for weaknesses, he decided to sit back and observe what would happen, in case a solution made itself apparent.
He watched the person inside the sarcophagus sit up, and then simply walk right out of it. Sharzad wore the regalia of Deshret, her clothes matching the statues that stood guard outside the chamber in an uncanny way. Though from afar she looked alright, her eyes glowed with an unnatural golden light, light that seemed to radiate from her whole body in a way that screamed unnatural, deadly, GET AWAY–
Alhaitham forced his instincts to stand down as he watched the gathered cult kneel before his daughter, who surveyed them in a distinctly not her way.
“ Mortals. ”
Her voice came out as the hiss of falling sands, the whistle of desert winds, the rumble of sandstone more ancient than Sumeru itself. It spoke of anger, of rage, of fury as merciless as the cyclone that hovered above the mausoleum. That was not his Sharzad. That was not the daughter he knew.
“Your Majesty,” Gulnaz said with a bow. “We are your noble supplicants–”
“ Heathens. You who tamper with death and rebirth beyond your comprehension. ”
“Your Majesty,” Gulnaz repeated, voice still calm and slithery, as if she was playing the part of the evil vizier tricking the king into making his citizens suffer. “We brought you from the beyond, reconnected your Divinity to your soul, reignited your memories–”
“ I am not your god, nor am I your king, Gulnaz. ” Pink light overtook the gold of Sharzad’s eyes as she raised her hand high above her head. “ I am the child you attempted to sacrifice, but in the end, you just made me stronger. ”
“I–I’m afraid I don’t understand.” Gulnaz’s voice was nervous now, a sign that Sharzad’s aura was beginning to affect her.
It was affecting Kaveh and Alhaitham, too, but Alhaitham could tell that Kaveh, like him, was fiercely fighting his instincts to run in order to stay close to Sharzad. Reaching out, he took Kaveh’s hand and squeezed it. The action grounded both of them, allowing them to focus better on the scene.
“ Oh? Let me enlighten you .” Sharzad tilted her head dangerously, slamming her hand downwards. “Congrats, bitch, for orchestrating your demise. ”
And plants sprouted from every nook, every crack in the floor of the hall, capturing ankles, arms, whole bodies, even. Sharzad’s power—its source still unknown to Alhaitham—flooded the room completely, wreaking bloody havoc everywhere.
A group of cultists attempted to approach Sharzad, weapons raised to attack, but before they could do anything, a massive vine sprouted from Sharzad’s feet. It flew past the five rescuers, narrowly missing Alhaitham’s face as it sent the cultists tumbling into the blue abyss in the antechamber. Their screams were the first to truly echo in the room, and they were immediately followed by Bhaskara’s sole order.
“ RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ”
Sharzad began to laugh. “ Oh, you didn’t give me the chance to run, Bhaskara. I wasn’t intending on giving you one, either, but it seems you like to see your comrades writhe in pain. Here– ” A snap of her fingers brought forth a massive pitcher plant that swallowed both Gulnaz and Bhaskara up to their necks, leaving their heads out and able to watch the carnage. “ –enjoy the show. ”
Alhaitham glanced at Kaveh again, finding him with eyes wide in horror. “Alhaitham–that’s–she’s–”
His voice was tight with terror that Alhaitham completely understood, especially when Sharzad’s idea of a show became clear. Perhaps she was just being unusually theatric, but her voice rumbled through the stone as she began to sing. Divine fury laced her voice like a poison, each word punctuated by bursts of the pure elemental energy leaving her hands, which she used to conduct the surrounding chaos.
“ Drown in your sorrow and fears!
Choke on your blood and your tears!
Bleed 'til you've run out of years!
We must do what it takes to survive! ”
The ground was soaked in blood now, much of it coming from cultists injured by their own weapons or by the plants Sharzad created. Spears and khopesh danced in the hands of flowering plants, slicing towards various cultists with minds of their own. Bodies littered the ground now, either bleeding profusely or drowned in the poison seeping from more unnaturally large pitcher plants, all knocked over except for the one where Bhaskara and Gulnaz watched the chaos.
Sharzad remained on the coffin, eyes and skin still exuding that pink energy. Arms raised, she manipulated the vines Alhaitham had seen moments earlier, dragging the armoured strangers from one side of the room to the other, narrowly missing several people who were still alive.
How many people are in this cult?!
Sharzad clearly still didn’t notice them, as she kept singing. Her voice continued to echo across the room, angry and bitter and terrifying and powerful .
Between that and the sight of his daughter actively murdering people while bathed in their blood, Alhaitham was certain he’d be having nightmares about this for the rest of his life, if the Akasha hadn’t been there to sap his dreams first.
“ Give up your honour and faith!
Live up your life as a wraith!
Die in the blood where you bathe!
We must do what it takes to survive! ”
“SHARZAD!” Kaveh yelled. It was a feeble attempt to stop everything, but an attempt nonetheless. “Stop this!”
Sharzad’s head turned to them for a split-second, but her eyes kept glowing, giving her a blank, soulless expression. Alhaitham guessed that she could hear them, but she wasn’t entirely conscious. Drunk on power, in a way. Power that seemed to be that of not one, but two deceased god-kings.
She turned back to the crowd within seconds, just as Cyno, Tighnari, and Faruzan finally joined them, each with varying degrees of terror on their faces. It was surely the same natural fear Alhaitham felt at the moment, the one caused by the inhuman nature of Sharzad’s new abilities.
“That can’t be her,” Tighnari said as Sharzad moved her arms towards the still-standing pitcher plant containing her betrayers, humming to herself in the process. “She’s too–”
“Violent?” Alhaitham crossed his arms. “Sharzad can be violent.”
Case in point, his daughter destroyed the pitcher plant with the casual flick of a finger, releasing Bhaskara and Gulnaz’s slime-covered bodies to the floor. Two vines wrapped around their legs and dragged them across the room until they lay in front of the coffin Sharzad stood on.
“ Gulnaz, Bhaskara! How wonderful, you’re still alive. Did you enjoy the show? A short one, isn’t it? ” Humming, she stepped off the coffin until she stood directly in front of them. “ That experience is nothing near what I feel right now. Betrayal hurts, did you know? ” she tilted her head at her former professors like she was giving them a lesson on betrayal.
“Sharzad, we meant you no harm–”
Alhaitham gritted his teeth at the sound of Gulnaz’s voice, still attempting to placate Sharzad, who was clearly beyond pissed off .
“No. You made me the queen of your Darshan, Gulnaz. You made me your god-king, ruler of the sands and all that lives within. You made a mistake by choosing me, and now you reap what you sowed, dumbass.” She pointed at her head in an I’m crazy motion. “This is the least I could do.” She hummed again, singing her next words in a dangerous lullaby. “We are the same, you and I.” Leaning in, she poked Bhaskara’s head. “Except I won’t be killing you. I think Cyno would like you to face justice . . . trouble is, how will I explain the mess here?” She wandered back and forth, lips pursed like she was thinking deeply about the answer to her question, before stopping right in front of her former captors. “Oh, wait, it doesn’t matter.” Her cold laugh sent a shiver down Alhaitham’s spine, so obviously not his daughter that he momentarily wondered if a demon had possessed his child. “You made me Vahumana’s Queen, remember?” Pink and black flowers appeared in her hair, forming a thorny imitation of her normal, vibrantly coloured flower crown. “I have all the power and influence I want within the Akademiya.”
“Sharzad, you can stop now,” Cyno said loudly. “We’re here to apprehend them.”
Sharzad turned towards them again, her gaze darting across the group, like she was factoring each of the five adults in her decision. “ You all came. ” Her voice continued to rumble with that ancient power, but there was relief audible somewhere deep within her words.
“Why wouldn’t we?” Faruzan asked.
The pink light in Sharzad’s eyes flashed a few times. “I thought you might . . . be too late.”
The light faded completely. Sharzad stumbled, first forward, and then back, as Kaveh and Alhaitham rushed down the stairs to her side. Together, they lowered her to the stone floor, resting her head in Kaveh’s lap, where she might be more comfortable.
Alhaitham stayed by her side, inspecting her carefully in case she’d been injured in any way. She showed some signs of dehydration and exhaustion, but looked fine physically otherwise. Except . . . despite her earlier strength, she felt limp now, as if the fact that she’d been standing was purely because of the high levels of power flowing through her veins. Her skin was hot to the touch, radiating elemental energy at a rate much too strong to be safe for a human.
“Tighnari!” Alhaitham called immediately.
“Right here.” Tighnari’s vision glowed slightly as he hovered his hand over Sharzad. His eyes narrowed as he watched her.
“What’s—so tired?” Sharzad’s eyes were glassy and unfocused, though she somehow seemed to catch a glimpse of Cyno and Faruzan apprehending her captors, something that made her relax. She furrowed her brows at Tighnari. “Nari?”
“There’s a high concentration of elemental energy in her body,” he said. “And her body is attempting to combat it but it’s sapping her life force.”
The harsh reality of that scenario was clear. She’s dying.
“ No. ” Kaveh shook his head frantically. “No no no no. No. We just came and rescued her. She can’t be–”
“ Dad . Dad, look.” Sharzad raised her hand and pointed at something above her face.
At first, Alhaitham thought she was hallucinating something, but then the air seemed to flicker, and floating in front of her was a very real, very tangible glowing box. The text on it wavered between a strange alphabet and the Teyvan one, but Alhaitham could vaguely read it.
Error: Energy Overload. Temporary System shut down necessary for proper calibration and update. Please be patient as this issue is fixed. Necessary life functions will continue as normal.
“System,” Sharzad said, vaguely waving at the box. “That’s the System. I’ll be . . . okay. Temporary calibration, okay?”
Kaveh made a noise that sounded distinctly like a sob. “Sharzad, don’t you dare die, you hear me?” he commanded, voice cracking with every other word.
“M’not dying ,” she mumbled, turning to fix her sleepy golden eyes on Alhaitham. “Don’t let him do something stupid, Papa.”
Holding back his own tears—he couldn’t show her he was crying, not when Kaveh was already doing so—Alhaitham nodded. One of them had to look strong for her, even if both were deeply emotionally vulnerable at the moment. “I’ll make sure of it.” Reaching for her head, he combed his fingers through her hair. “Don’t worry.”
She blinked her sleepy eyes, already half-asleep. “I never . . .” her muscles relaxed, the sleep or coma not allowing her to finish her sentence. Alhaitham forced himself to think positively about the situation, even as he worried his daughter might be—no. She couldn’t be.
The silence in their little pocket of space filled the air for much too long in Alhaitham’s opinion. Tighnari checked her pulse and her breathing, sighing in relief as he stepped back.
“She’s okay. It’s a sleep coma or something similar. When we take her to Sumeru City, we can have her stay at Bimarstan so she’s under the supervision of doctors more qualified than I am.”
“Thank Celestia!” Kaveh embraced Alhaitham. “She’s going to be okay.”
Though he let his tears fall, Alhaitham lightly kissed his senior’s cheek, before pressing their foreheads together. “Yeah. Let’s go home, dearest?”
“Absolutely.”
Notes:
Sooooo oops? I kinda realised that the ending I wanted for this didn't work out later in the story so I figured eh, might as well rewrite everything I'd had up until this point so it works out better.
1) So sorry about updating so late, I'm realising that my former schedule doesn't work so well with my classes so chances are I'll be updating every Saturday unless I'm on vacation or something
2) New gods enter the playing field! Don't worry, you'll learn who Ŏ̴͇̬͙r̵̡̛̛͆i̸̺͕͌̈́̍̔̈́͊a̷͚̤̻͔̥̓̋̋͌͗̾̔̀̒x̵̥̹̝͎̿͂̃͑͐̇̈͊͒̾͝͝ and N̷̩̮̍̈̎̿͝a̸̡̗̜̓b̷̨̘̋͆͝e̶̡͎̩̩̒̒͘r̴͎̝͐̾͝ͅí̵̡̧̢̘̏u̴̢̮̻̰͎͊s̶̹̦̞͖̗͗ are in a little bit, yay!
3) The EPIC the Musical/Greek mythology brainrot has returned with the new saga release so I decided to add a bunch of references besides the actual use of "Scylla" here. I think that moment is terrifying and Sharzad's subconscious, being considerably more dramatic than she is, would definitely used that as psychological warfare against her enemies. Let me know if you find any more!
4) This wouldn't be a Genshin fic without references to the unreasonably long time it takes to download/update the game for larger patches. Sharzad isn't dead, like the System says, but she's definitely going to be incapacitated for a bit. Oops.
5) If any of you read my author's notes this far, I'd like to ask for your opinion: should I split this into smaller more digestible fics (1 fic per archon quest + Interludes) or keep it as a massive fic? If I do the former, it's easier to tag and read as standalone pieces, but the latter means everything is together in one fic
Hope you enjoyed, as always! :)
Chapter 19: Prologue: Spaces Between
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
T̶̡͎̠̻̤̒͘h̸̪̐e̶̢̛͈̲̳̩̠̪̥͇̺͈̦̿̐̾̽̀̌̊̀͆̕̕̕͝ ̴̛̗͍̅͗̆̔̏͌̓̓͗̒̔͌̉͋̅͠G̷͙̩̟͖͙̜̲͚̟̜͙̙̺̲̩̯̠̓͋̽̇̒̐̾̿͒͂̊̃͘͘ơ̵̡͖͙͕̪̦͕̱͆̔̓́͐̿̋̏̍̔̆͛͘͠ď̷̞̻͉͇͇̒̽̌̓̀̅̿̆͒̓̄̌̕̕͜͝ŝ̵̡̛̠̝̗̣̹̝̬̋̓̾̑̈́̍̀̊͠ ̶̡̨̢̛͇̳̻͎̘̜̪͉̮͎̖̰̳̔͑̍̿̈́̂̑̑̂͘͜B̴̧̖̭̣̻͇͋̍̍͋̽é̴̹̱̬̦͈̗͆̋̊̆̾͝ỹ̷̯͍͇͍̘̹̭̮̼̩̬̼͚͌̈́͌̓͑̈́̊́̆̈̌͑͘͘͜͜͠o̷̧̢̞͖̻͔̜̖̹̠̹̦̟̣̦͂͋͐͒̂̒̉̎̄̓̄͑̏͗̈́̚͝ň̷̢̧̧̛͈̘͈̟͍͕̣̹̮̤̰͐̅̕͠ͅd̸̢̨͎͇̫͎̻̭̱̺̞̹̜̹̗͔̉͑̃ ̵̟͓͓̹̩͉̺͙̻̆̓̀̓͆̉̏̇͌̂͌̕̕͝t̵̢̨̨͓̳̭̻̙͚̺̖̜̙͉̯̍̄́͒̄͒͗͘͠h̶̡̛̯̤̠̠̣̻͍̖̳͓͙̣̭͓̍̒̋̌̆̐̌̀̈̎͊͋̈̚ͅͅẽ̵͕̭̳̭̳̄ ̵̡̨̨͚͖̹̤̣̯͔̄̄́̀̑Ś̵͖̻͈͕̱̈́̽̒́̽͑̽̐͋͒̔̕͝k̵̡̢͍̙̳͕̞̪͈̭̰͖̤͇͕̠̀̀̓̈̈͆́̂͑̌́̚ͅį̶̮̱͊̓͌̔͐̅̐̆͌̀̈̆̒̕͝é̷̳̠̺͖͎̞̯̝̤͒̍̈́̉̀̉̓͒́̀̓̋̚s̴̘̲̈
Ś̷̠̮̘̻̘͍͍͍̫͔̺̰̔̐͘͘ͅͅp̶̡̪̺̩̺̫͉̘̥͚͙̻̪̺͌̇́͂̂̆̌̍͆̒͌͘͝e̴̮̮͉̭̬̲͙̭͙̖̻̭͓̐̿ͅa̶̧̦͎͍̺̘͎̺͚̥͍͐̄̂̿̾̇̆͋̍̎̅̓̈́̚͠ͅk̴̞͈̰̟̯͇̻̲͈̬̺̮̰̙͙̓͗̓͛͆̕ ̵̧̢̖͈͇̱̠͉͍͚͑̀̈̀̍̍̇̈́͜t̶̺̠̟̤̫͈̜̱͍͙͌̓͂̈͌͗̿̾̈̓̕͜o̶̠͂̀́̿̈́̿̀́͒̄̾͑̄̄͗͘̚ ̷͉̖͚̫̃̓̃͑́̊̕O̴͙̠͉̞̞͙̼̘̓̕r̴̨̯̘̻̺͉̘͇̘̝̻͔̟̮̝̽̏̋̊̒̈́͆̂̈͛̍̓͑̅͂̈́̈ͅi̶̖̹̐ă̸̡͙̹͎̠̬̺̯̤̯̟͓̍͋̃̿̈́̋͛̊̈́̑̽͠ͅx̴̢͇͔̭͍̤̖͍̙̮̻͑̽̅̓̈͜ ̷̡̞͈̬̖͙͐̔͐̽̃͗̓͆͛̍̆̓̿̎̚t̶̡͔̳̲̹͖͎̳̤͖̀ͅḩ̵̣͚͈̤͈̯̤̖̽̈́̋e̴̡̨͍͕̜̺̠͕̘̫͍͈̙͕͐̿͊͑͂͜ ̴̞̞̉̀̚͝Ȯ̵̖̫͓̜̪͇̤͈̊̊̑̅̑́͌͌̋̚̚͝v̵̨̩̫͙̳̜͓̏́̂̊̽͌̏͛͠e̶̼̟͔̼̤͔̰̪̊͋́͆̉͂̔̔̈̇̕̚̕͝r̶̢̧̛͍͕͙͖̼̺͚͍͙̱͂͆́̉̿̋̌̉͆͂̚͘͝͝s̸̨̪̩̰̘̏̍ȩ̵̗͉͙͇͍̤̞̞̱̞̩̺̣͎̊̋͐̈̋̎̍͋̓̈́̃̆e̸̦̰̬͔̖̺̙̝̦̮̮̳̟̺͗͋͆̏͗̃̾̊̈͆͝ŗ̷͚̙̲̙̖̐ͅ
The trip back across the desert was a long one, especially since the five adults had to rotate between keeping their eye on Sharzad and on Gulnaz and Bhaskara. They’d settled that the mercenaries were too numerous to handle on their own, and so Cyno would be meeting a team of Corps of Thirty members and matra at Caravan Ribat and returning to the desert to apprehend the last of them.
Gulnaz and Bhaskara, for their part, would be taken straight to the most high-security prison that could be found. Personally, Kaveh would much prefer to see them executed for what they did to Sharzad, but he understood enough about Sumeru’s legal system to know that the best way to ensure justice was to let the Judgement happen on its own. A high profile case would require a jury made up of the six Great Sages with Cyno presiding as an impartial judge rather than the one sentencing the two. Still, it didn’t matter: the matra would be in charge of evidence gathering, and it was clear who the guilty ones were.
So, once they got to Caravan Ribat, they split up.
“I’ll head to Bimarstan as soon as I’m able,” Cyno promised as he told them all goodbye. “I don’t know how long that will be, but I will be there when I can.”
Kaveh nodded. “Thank you, Cyno.”
“No need.” His red gaze travelled to Sharzad, who lay safely on the back of a cart, head in Alhaitham’s lap. “I don’t let kids stay in danger.” Nodding solemnly, he turned away. “Stay safe.”
Soon, the cart pushed forward, leaving Caravan Ribat by means of well-travelled trade routes. It was slower than travelling on foot, sure, but more secure when it came to protecting Sharzad, as rough movements or battle might harm her if she had to be carried by someone for the rest of the journey. Sure, they could have taken the sumpter beasts, only the ones they had were exhausted beyond measure, and it was less stable than a cart because the beasts jolted slightly with every step.
This cart was a lot better for her, in Kaveh’s opinion, even if he was resigned to walking the rest of the trip home. He’d been with Sharzad for most of the desert portion of the trip, and it was only fair that Alhaitham got a chance to watch over their daughter, too.
Still, he stayed close, where he could catch a glimpse of Sharzad’s relaxed expression if he craned his neck enough.
“She’s lucky,” Faruzan mused. “To have a gift like that. To be given the chance to survive.”
“That gift is the reason she got in this mess,” Kaveh said. Sharzad had admitted to him and Alhaitham that she’d been greatly aided in her pursuit of knowledge by the System, and that rapid pursuit of knowledge had resulted in her kidnapping.
“Would you rather she never existed? Or that her past was different?”
He shook his head. “Never. I just . . . I wish she didn’t have to suffer.” Lowering his voice to a mumble, he added, “Like I did.”
Why had he let her out of his sight like that? Why had he not paid more attention to his daughter until after it was too late? What kind of father was he that let his young daughter into danger time and time again? What kind of father was he that allowed his daughter to make the mistakes he did, to drive everyone away in anger, to work alone and find herself in mortal peril because of it?
“Kaveh, I don’t like it, but suffering is a fact of life.” Faruzan adjusted one of the clips in her hair. “You cannot shelter your daughter from the world forever.”
You cannot shelter your daughter forever.
Voice wavering, Kaveh just barely allowed his guilt to slip out, running his hands through his hair as he spoke. “I couldn’t protect her from a kidnapping! What kind of father am I that something as simple as that slipped past my defences?!”
“This was clearly an operation on a massive scale. You’re not a prophet, Kaveh. You could not have seen this coming. Do not guilt yourself: you went to rescue her, and you will remain by her side now. That is enough.”
The forest held their silence for mere moments, before Kaveh declared: “I’m a bad father.”
Faruzan slapped him.
“Ow!” He clutched his cheek, where she’d reached to slap him. “What was that for?!”
“For lying to yourself.” Faruzan jabbed her finger towards him, voice indignant and infuriated. “I don’t care if that child was once twenty years old— you and Alhaitham were responsible for raising her in Teyvat, and I daresay you’ve done a phenomenal job. I do not want to hear you repeat that again, or else I will put an arrow through your hand as a reminder of your idiocy.”
Taken aback by her sudden aggressiveness, Kaveh blinked several times, before sighing. He ran his hand through his hair again. “I see where Sharzad’s been developing her angrier side.”
He braced himself for another slap, but instead found Faruzan scoffing. “Well, someone had to teach her how to stand up for herself, and it certainly wasn’t going to be any of you men. ”
“Alhaitham taught her how to fight!”
“That’s not the same thing as standing up for herself, and though you two are prone to verbally slap each other, Sharzad didn’t actually learn how to argue with people until I introduced her to rhetoric and philosophy. You’re welcome.”
Kaveh stared at her. “When did this happen?”
“The second I realised that she has opinions but no way to adequately express them.” She sniffed. “For such an esteemed graduate of Haravatat, Alhaitham has absolutely no concept of argumentation.”
“Oh, he argues all the time.”
“He bickers with you, perhaps, but not with the world at large. You two are just like an old married couple, which wasn’t what Sharzad needed.” Huffing, Faruzan crossed her arms. “She had no idea how to tell someone to back off, not without resorting to drawing a blade and threatening their limbs or their lives. I simply taught her how to verbally defend herself.”
“Yet she still resorted to violence,” Kaveh mumbled, remembering the bodies flying, the plants exploding out of the ground, the way Sharzad spoke as she confronted her kidnappers.
Faruzan stopped him, marching forward so she faced him. “Look me in the eye and tell me that she had a choice to use rhetoric in that pyramid. They locked her in a coffin, Kaveh. She was given death as her only option—of course she gravitated to violence.” With a sigh, she waved a hand. “Doesn’t matter right now. Taking Sharzad to Bimarstan is the most important thing at the moment.”
~~~
Dear Sharzad,
I’m worried about you. Your father—Alhaitham, that is—penned a really short message about you being incapacitated at the moment. I’m sending this note in the hopes that only you get to read it, but who knows anymore.
If you don’t tell me what’s going on in your next letter I’m going to Sumeru myself. “Incapacitated” isn’t enough of an excuse for me, not when you’ve been worried about something sketchy going on for months. If what you were concerned about happened and you got hurt because of it, I’m going to travel to Sumeru to see you, okay? You don’t get to suffer without having your friend there to help you out.
Please please please, let me know what’s going on, Sharzad. I can’t stand hearing nothing from you. You’re usually so talkative in your letters.
Your friend,
Yoimiya
~~~
Cyno was a busy man.
He had always been aware of this: being the General Mahamatra meant that he had to be intensely aware of the goings-on across all of Sumeru, that he was responsible for all of the matra and Corps of Thirty serving under him, and that he was responsible for all sentencing done in Sumeru’s justice system where the crimes were important enough to require his presence.
These types of cases were not necessarily rare, but certainly not everyday occurrences. Usually, Cyno only found himself in the Hall of Judgement a handful of times a month.
Sharzad’s kidnapping and subsequent attempted sacrifice constituted several of these judgments for the present year, each levied against a separate conspirator, and any of the hired mercenaries/cultists who had not somehow escaped into the desert. Gulnaz and Bhaskara, both stripped of their titles, appeared separately in court, alongside several esteemed Akademiya professors and students who, as it turned out, had a hand in the conspiracy to sacrifice Sharzad and resurrect King Deshret.
Everything from the gathering of evidence to the prosecution was exhausting, a series of information that several matra had to present to Cyno (presiding as judge) and the jury—the five Great Sages. It should have been all six of them, but unfortunately, Ezhil was still recovering from the poison Gulnaz had been administering to him.
The proof of the crimes was recovered from the Akasha Terminals, forcefully collected from Gulnaz’s own thoughts in order to prove that she had been the one at the head of the operation. Ezhil’s poisoning had been the most incriminating part of the evidence to the Great Sages, who saw the poisoning as one of their own as the highest of treason outside of disregarding the sins.
Personally, Cyno would have thought that the kidnapping and, again, attempted sacrifice of a girl just shy of fourteen was a considerably worse offence, but as the judge, he was meant to be impartial.
In this case, he most certainly was not.
“Ugh, I’m just glad they’re both sentenced to prison for the rest of their lives,” Kaveh groaned.
He, Alhaitham, Cyno, and Tighnari had met over drinks several times over the course of the past few weeks. It had originally been a manner of touching base on Sharzad’s condition and the issues at the Akademiya, but had quickly become something of a social call, too. Cyno enjoyed the chance to whip out his jokes and drop the General Mahamatra facade for an hour a week, and he could tell the chance to talk and play Genius Invocation TCG was a chance for Alhaitham and Kaveh to unwind after a day of working their separate jobs and watching over Sharzad.
“I’ll only be happy when Sharzad finally wakes up,” Alhaitham grumbled, arms crossed.
“Hey, at least she’s in fully functioning condition,” Tighnari pointed out. “Whatever’s going on with her, she’s still fully nourished and hydrated. Most comatose patients don’t make it past three days, and she’s two days shy of four weeks.”
“Miraculous or not, she’s still in a coma.” Kaveh downed the last of his wine and set his glass on the table with a thunk . “We don’t know what’s going on with her and she needs to get better . And those Amurta scholars need to back off. ” Blinking at Tighnari, he held out a hand. “No offence.”
“Funny that you think insulting my Darshan would annoy me. I’d rather have nothing to do with the Akademiya, and Sharzad’s case certainly hasn’t helped my opinion of that fact.”
Cyno crossed his arms, mildly annoyed that they hadn’t started a game of Genius Invocation TCG but not enough that he wanted to bring it up. “The corruption in this case ran surprisingly deep. But that’s what you get when you promise ambitious young students glory and eternal life under a resurrected god.”
“Baseline corruption is too much corruption,” Kaveh declared. “This would never have happened if they actually taught critical thinking at the Akademiya instead of just rote memorization.”
Alhaitham huffed. “Complaining about the good old days?”
“Ha. I’m just saying that this could have been easily avoided if the newer students could actually think for themselves for once.”
“You’re saying that as if the people from our generation don’t do the same.”
“ We certainly don’t.”
“ We are a notable minority within a group of students brainwashed by Akademiya protocol.” Reaching over, Alhaitham tapped Kaveh’s ear. “Notice that we’re some of the only ones not wearing the Akasha?”
Cyno glanced at Tighnari and rolled his eyes. Both of them agreed that the worst part of these meetings was the strange arguing-as-flirting relationship Kaveh and Alhaitham had. Of course, it wasn’t like Cyno and Tighnari hadn’t had rough patches in their own long relationship, but they had the decency to keep it low-key and avoid any PDA.
Particularly when they were still on the fence about a few key aspects of their relationship, like whether they wanted to get married or not.
However, Kaveh and Alhaitham were the worst when it came to public affection, because even a simple conversation between them could turn to flirting before anyone was able to process what was going on. Honestly, Cyno wasn’t entirely sure how Sharzad managed living with those two.
Maybe she just resorted to the tried and true strategy of locking herself in her room when they got too touchy.
He’d have to ask her when she woke up.
~~~
Yoimiya had never been outside of Inazuma until the trip she took to Sumeru City in order to see Sharzad. She had no idea where she was going in the city, so it was a miracle that she managed to locate a familiar face so soon after arriving.
“Excuse me, mister! Are you the forest ranger Tighnari?”
The man had large, dark fox ears peeking out from the top of his head, much like the youkai of Inazuma sometimes had. Sharzad had drawn him a few times, and even described him once in her letters, so Yoimiya was certain that this was the man she was looking for.
“Hmm? Who’s asking?”
“Oh! I’m Naganohara Yoimiya!” Giving a short bow, Yoimiya continued. “I’m one of Sharzad’s friends. She’s talked a lot about you in her letters!”
Tighnari’s eyes—a gradient of orange to green like the sun setting over a forest—widened slightly, then narrowed. “Didn’t Alhaitham send you a letter?”
“He told me she’s incapacitated and nothing else. So I came to see what’s going on!”
“I’m . . . afraid she won’t be taking any visitors at the moment.”
Yoimiya blinked. What, was Sharzad sick with some horrible illness? Last she checked, Sharzad was due to graduate from the Akademiya after her thesis presentation, so why wasn’t she able to send any letters?
“Why?”
“She’s . . .” Tighnari took a breath. “Come with me. This isn’t something I can explain.”
With a single gesture, he led her through the colourful streets of Sumeru’s capital. Yoimiya found that Sharzad’s descriptions of the crowded markets, with the merchants hawking wares on every side, colourful fabrics lining the spaces between stalls in order to form some sort of barrier between them, had somewhat not done the city justice. She hadn’t mentioned the children running around, nor the way the sun beat down on Yoimiya’s hakamashita and hakama, which she’d worn in order to gain a little more movement while still protecting her skin from the burning Sumeru sun.
He brought her to a more residential area, near which was a large building with the trademark leaf-shaped roof of Sumeru architecture. Several beds and chairs took up the space outside, upon which lay people who were clearly sick or injured in some way, if the doctors fawning over them demonstrated anything.
Is this a hospital? Why is Sharzad in a hospital?
Tighnari kept moving onward, bringing her inside the hospital, and then to a room at the end of a long hallway, one with a closed door that he knocked on once.
It opened quickly, revealing a man taller than most people Yoimiya had ever seen, including Arataki Itto. His short grey hair contrasted with the strange gold and turquoise headpiece he wore, which was connected to somewhere on his waist by a tube of strange liquid. Most of his clothing was black, accented occasionally by gold or turquoise, which Yoimiya was beginning to realise was meant to match his eyes.
He surveyed Yoimiya with a distinctly unimpressed expression, before looking at Tighnari. “I thought we told all the eager students to back off weeks ago.”
“This isn’t a student.” Tighnari gestured at Yoimiya. “This is . . . remind me how to say your name?”
“Naganohara Yoimiya,” she said, flashing a small smile towards the unfamiliar man. She tried to recall if Sharzad had ever drawn him, guessing that she probably had but with a different expression, given how parts of his features seemed familiar somehow. “Sharzad’s friend from Inazuma.”
“You,” the man drawled. “I thought I told you not to worry about her.”
Oh. That’s–
Yoimiya bounced on her toes. “Alhaitham! Right? Did I pronounce that right?” The man raised an eyebrow, which Yoimiya took as a yes. “Okay, so I know you sent a letter, but you told me nothing about Sharzad’s actual condition, so I figured I might come and check on her, since–”
Alhaitham moved sideways, opening the door further so Yoimiya had a perfect view of a bed, upon which lay the unmoving body of a person with pale brown hair and tanned skin. Voice suddenly lost, Yoimiya opened and closed her mouth like one of the goldfish that formed her constellation, even as Alhaitham unceremoniously dragged her into the room, shutting the door behind Tighnari with a swift kick.
“What happened to her?”
“Something tragic happened in the desert,” Tighnari said delicately. “She came into contact with a high amount of elemental energy, and . . . has been like this ever since.”
“But she’s—she’s still . . . ?”
“Alive? Yes.”
Yoimiya glanced at Alhaitham, whose gaze remained trained on the slow rise-and-fall of Sharzad’s chest, a sign of life amidst the general lack of them. “And it’s been, how long?”
“Thirty days, seven hours, fifteen minutes.” Alhaitham’s voice, level as before, had just the slightest hint of tension in it, a tiny sign of his concern for his daughter. “She’s still holding on.”
They stood in silence for a few moments. Yoimiya took two seconds to make up her mind about what she was about to do.
“Well, where’s the nearest inn?” she asked.
Alhaitham didn’t turn towards her. “What?”
“If she’s stuck like this, I’m staying by her side. Where can I stay?”
Tighnari huffed a laugh. “I’ll take care of this. Alhaitham and Kaveh have been . . . reluctant to leave Sharzad’s side for more than a few hours at a time.” He set his hand on the doorknob. “Come, Yoimiya, let’s find you a place to stay.”
~~~
For the second time in a few hours, Sharzad woke up in the realm of a god.
She’d come into consciousness as she walked into the space, the door she came through closing behind her with a soft click. Unsurprisingly, her body felt completely healed, as if nothing had gone wrong in Sumeru. She knew this was distinctly untrue, given the fact that she was pretty sure she’d outright died in the coffin and had been dying a second time until the System gave her that handy notification.
Given her current status of in a waiting period and the temporary notification from a very distorted System, Sharzad figured that this was another quest she needed to complete, and so she figured she might as well kill time by looking around.
The realm was clearly divinely-created, given its fantastical appearance. It was, of course, beautiful: a large, circular room with a complicated mechanical contraption slowly rotating in the centre of it, occasionally producing clicks or puffs of colourful smoke. The wider space was divided into dozens of little nooks, each featuring a little atelier for woodworking, or reading, or even a notable gaming chair and setup Sharzad saw further along. Everything here looked comfortable and entertaining, making this a place where one could spend eternity without worrying about boredom.
The place was dimly lit by lights circling the edge of the room and by the stars visible through the ceiling and the floor of the space. It was like it was built between the stars.
“T̴̢̡̮̬̲̹̟̰̬̑͑͒̇h̷͉̯̟̞̰͖̖̞͎͚̬̠̼̣̤̥̏͋̽̿̀͘͜ȩ̶̱̱̫̻̼̫̱̣̤̪̝̰͊̂̔̀́r̵̭̝̳͖͚̱̘͈̞̈́͜ͅé̸͚̜͔͚̳̜̭̩̠͈͖̘̭̀̈̈́̾̔̌͆̾͛͛̈́͗̒͠͝ͅ ̶̛͚̭̻̤̀͒̿y̸̛̮̝̭̗̘̓͒̅̒̃̽͆̉̈̿̌̃̍̿ǫ̴͎̗̳̖̹͑ǘ̴̡̠̯̘͔̱̻͖̈̽̿̈́̚̕͝ ̴͖͓̥͎̰̗̪̥͖͇̦͛̑̿̀̈́̇̄͜ả̴̧̡̬̻̩̲̤̼́̎̚̕̚͝ͅṛ̴̤́͊̈́͋̑͆̋̓̄̓͝͠͠e̵̥̹͎̦͙̯͉̲̙̞̬̝̻̤̜̬͑͘.”
She jumped at the sound of the voice, which came out more like garbled gibberish than something she could clearly understand. “Holy shit!”
Turning around, she found herself staring at a person whose appearance she couldn’t fully latch onto, like their form kept shifting every time she thought about it too hard. All she could catch were the clothes the figure wore—robes or perhaps a dress made from fabric that looked like the night sky itself, stars twinkling across the fabric like it was woven from the universe. This person was shapeless, appearing as though they had been built from the stars themselves, space dust and energy colliding to form a vaguely humanoid being.
“O̸̡͔̰͉͚̞̼̖͑̔̌̽̂ḧ̴͔̭̪́.̴̨̯̻͈̟̼̮̖̻͂͛̏̅̆̓̔̾̓ͅ ̸̧̻̥͚̙̖̣̯͓̑͊͝͝͠M̷̜̺͈̐͛̐͂͑̅ỵ̵̼͖̪̻̉̿̒͜ ̸̯̺̦̣̪̯̱͇̠̞͎͓̠̉̽̊̌̈́̚͠a̷̡̪̜͉͎̬̘̜͙̼͉̒̊͑̓̈́̈́̆p̶̞̹͍̱̳̈́̉̾̂͋͛͑̈́̇͘͜͠͝͠ó̴͖̗̻͕̥̫̜̂͊̃̏͌́̇̕͝l̸̥̈̀́͘o̸̡̨̢͇̝̝̯̘̱̻̱̹͗̓̋͑̈́̀͝ͅg̵̢̢̧͎̮̝͙̮̱̩̦̯͚̭̳̥͓̈͛͊̃͑̓͗͝ï̵̘͉͚̹̖̺̜̣̟̼̣e̷̡̧̥̲̪̣̬̼̜̝͈̬̘̐̋͜ͅs̶̡̡̝͕͉̦͉̹̩̭̘̜̪̼̼̈́͋͛͆͊̏̓͘ͅ.̸̻̣͓̜͉̞̳̯̩̭̻̣̙̣͓͙̓͌͗̎̈́” The figure coughed, before stating in perfect English. “Is this better?”
Sharzad blinked at the language she hadn’t heard in years. “You speak English?”
“That . . . primordial tongue has no name in Teyvat, although perhaps the name ‘Abyssal’ would be the best way to describe it.”
“I speak—what?”
Primordial? Abyssal? Does that mean it’s the language Abyss Mages and other things I‘ve fought speak? Is that the language the gods of Teyvat once spoke, before the Archon War? Is that what that is?
“Anyways, that is not the point. We have a lot of business to cover in an abysmally short amount of time, so let’s begin with the simple.” The figure bowed slightly forward, arm held gracefully in front of them. “My name is ̷͉̖͚̫̃̓̃͑́̊̕O̴͙̠͉̞̞͙̼̘̓̕r̴̨̯̘̻̺͉̘͇̘̝̻͔̟̮̝̽̏̋̊̒̈́͆̂̈͛̍̓͑̅͂̈́̈ͅi̶̖̹̐ă̸̡͙̹͎̠̬̺̯̤̯̟͓̍͋̃̿̈́̋͛̊̈́̑̽͠ͅx̴̢͇͔̭͍̤̖͍̙̮̻͑̽̅̓̈͜ , but you can call me ‘O’. The ones in charge of Teyvat have an annoying tendency of chasing after anyone who says my true name.” Sharzad got the sense that ‘O’ was looking at her, but she couldn’t entirely tell, not when their face was so blurred and ever-changing. “Now, let’s get started with the obvious. I am a god. A god of the stars. And the ones in charge of Teyvat once banished me from that realm in order to exert their control over the world.”
“Okay, so Cele–” her lips sealed shut before she could finish her sentence.
“Mention their name here and all is lost,” ‘O’ hissed. “Names have power, little one.”
After a moment, the seal on her lips vanished, and Sharzad found she could speak again. “Fine. So why am I here, ‘O’?”
“To fix a mistake my . . . acquaintance made when reincarnating you.”
She nodded slowly. “The energy thing, right? The System said it was recalibrating.”
“My acquaintance, we’ll call them ‘N,’ did not alter your physiology in order for you to sustain the elemental energy of a god. That was a mistake being corrected as we speak.”
Mistake. You are a mistake. This was a mistake.
“So this ‘N’ is the reason I was reincarnated?” she asked hesitantly. “If they made a mistake when reincarnating me?”
“‘N’ made a choice I never completely agreed with.” ‘O’s’ voice rumbled with something like exasperation as they spoke. “We are both aware of the consequences of meddling, particularly when the ones in charge wove the firmament in place, exiling both of us from Teyvat. Yet, they wanted to try for revenge, or at least some sort of retaliation against those who wronged us.”
“So they chose me.”
“Yes. They believed you would be better off here than disappearing. You had so much potential, Sharzad, before your life was cut short. ‘N’ believed you were perfect for this little plan of theirs, and I, foolish as I was, agreed.”
Gritting her teeth, Sharzad stared at the deity in front of her. “You think I’m useless?”
‘O’ chuckled, sounding more like a crow cawing than any person laughing. “Oh, no. That attitude of yours was enough to sell this plan . . . I am merely saying that I was foolish to agree without any sort of forethought.” They began to pace, one way, then the other, robes billowing behind them and leaving small stars sparkling in their wake. “‘N’ simply wove you a new body, and after I built the System, we simply dumped you in the desert. Even gods make mistakes, little one, and unfortunately, ‘N’ didn’t have the foresight to think about elemental energy and its impacts on a human body in large concentrations.”
Sharzad pursed her lips, putting her hands together. “Let me get this straight: you two gave me a new body and powers, but because you were rushing, neither of you considered the impact of making deals with gods on a human body. Now, you’re fixing it. How?”
“‘N’ is busy reworking neural pathways so they’re compatible with higher levels of elemental energy. It’s a painstaking process that takes weeks.”
If Sharzad had been holding anything, it would have promptly dropped from her hands. “ Weeks?! ”
Kaveh and Alhaitham had to be worried sick by now, holding on by a thread as she lay in Bimarstan. Comas weren’t commonplace in Teyvat, especially since the medical technology to preserve life hadn’t been invented yet. Meaning she was probably being subjected to tests by nosy Amurta scholars. Ugh.
‘O’ loomed upwards, imposing in a way clearly meant to be intimidating. “Sharzad, your heart stopped twice within the span of an hour. The stress the work ‘N’ is causing your body would kill you a third time if we hadn’t made the decision to place you in stasis.”
“You could have told me, at least,” Sharzad muttered.
“How? You barely had enough strength to render the notification visible to your family, let alone speak about it. I gave you what information I could as your body was actively shutting down, and though we got to you in time, your heart still stopped .”
Blinking a few times, she tilted her head at ‘O’. “Not for long, right?”
“Thirty seconds, but that was too many. You lost a lot more time in the sarcophagus, and though Deshret and Nabu Malikata’s powers were enough to preserve you for a bit, that elemental imbalance in your body eventually sapped your life force once you exerted your vengeance.” ‘O’ huffed. “Foresight is clearly not ‘N’s strong suit.”
A hand made of stardust and stone reached over Sharzad, and ‘O’ slowly guided her around the space, back towards the door she originally walked through.
“Now, I hate to break it to you, Sharzad, but your soul cannot remain here forever. I will send you back to your body, where you will have to wait out ‘N’s healing measures.” ‘O’ opened the door, sending a burst of pure light burning Sharzad’s eyeballs.
She shielded her eyes with a hand. “How long?”
“Long enough. For my part, I will recalibrate the System so it’s more optimised to your style. Organisation and visibility are clearly something I overlooked when designing it, but perhaps I can make your work easier.”
“Hold on! You can’t just push me out there!” Sharzad grasped the door frame in an attempt to keep ‘O’ from forcing her through the door. “Am I ever going to see you again?”
“With luck, not until this mess is finished with. I will not communicate with you unless absolutely necessary.” Suddenly, the stars in the space where ‘O’s head was coalesced into two glaring eyes. “Be warned, Sharzad—you are still not a god. If you use too much elemental energy again, you will either become comatose or die, and next time, it will be final. You have no more chances.”
She rolled her eyes. “Dramatic, but okay, I’ll be careful. Thank you!”
And she let go of the doorframe and plunged into the abyss once more.
Notes:
A fun (and very long) chapter this week! The overhaul is working out great and, hopefully, there are only two more chapters in the prologue arc, before we turn to the interlude. I'm still on the fence about how I'll split this up but we'll know very soon, so yay! :)
Now, for the notes:
1) Poor Kaveh is very concerned with how he's doing as a father, but we all know the truth lol
2) I think Yoimiya's loyalty and care about her friends are enough to send her over to Sumeru, so that's why she's going there (and also so she and Sharzad can meet lol)
3) Given what we know about Sumeru's justice system (nothing), I decided to make up my own version of a justice system. Low-level cases are overseen by local magistrates, but cases with more serious offenses are presided over by Cyno, to the point that the most high-profile cases are overseen by a jury of the six Great Sages to ensure a solid verdict. And, hilariously, I think the matra include Sumerian lawyers.
4) Hakamashita and hakama (what Yoimiya is wearing when she arrives to Sumeru City) are a style of kimono and wide pants respectively. You might recognize the hakama if you've seen people practicing Japanese martial arts like kendo, aikido, and iaido.
5) I'm not gonna tell you about 'O' and 'N' for a while, but I will say that if you know anything about the Firmament, you can guess what 'O' was the god of . . . :)
6) The language Sharzad originally speaks is translated as Latin in the early chapters. Latin is also the base for an ancient language which we see all over Teyvat, including around sealed chests and crafting benches. It's also present in the Chasm and around certain rifts
Hope you enjoyed the chapter this week! Next's week's won't come any sooner, probably, but it'll definitely be a long one lmao
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 20: Prologue: Reawakening
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Reawakening
Reunite with your family
Her head hurt.
Fuck that.
No.
Wait.
Her entire fucking body hurt. It ached like she’d run a full marathon, or like she’d spent a whole year walking nonstop. Every muscle, even those she didn’t know existed, burned with a fiery pain every time she thought about them. My body is a bitch.
“Sharzad. Sharzad, wake up.”
Wait. Wasn’t that Nabu Malikata’s voice? What was she doing in the mausoleum? Shouldn’t she be in Bimarstan by now? That was what the god—'O' or whatever—said, right?
“If she’s too weak to get up, we made the wrong choice.”
“Amun! Stop it!”
A groan escaped her lips before she could stop it, exasperation at the two arguing voices replacing any sort of pain from her muscles burning. Thankfully, her movement seemed enough to shut both of the voices up.
Sharzad took the chance to bask in the silence, before something quite warm landed on her arm, sending little needles of pain shooting up towards her head.
Shit.
“Sharzad?” It was Alhaitham’s voice, spoken clearly, though it was very shaky at the moment. Sharzad couldn’t tell if he sounded worried or not. “Can you hear me?”
An attempt to move her mouth only caused her more pain. Ugh. She groaned again.
The thing on her arm—probably a hand, now that Sharzad thought about it—gently squeezed her. “Listen. Kaveh is going to be here in less than ten minutes. It would be an absolute miracle if you could sit up. He’s been a mess since–since you fell asleep.”
Someone scoffed. “ Listen to him, not even caring about whether she’s okay or not! ”
“ Oh, he cares. But he cares about the architect, too. ”
The confusion about the presence of both Deshret and Nabu Malikata’s voices was enough to lead Sharzad to slowly force open her eyes. Light filtered in for a few moments, temporarily blinding her until she could blink away the blurriness in her gaze.
And she was immediately greeted by a floating blue screen six inches from her face.
Update complete! Full changelog available in inventory. Thank you for your patience!
Taking great care to roll her eyes, Sharzad tried moving her arms, wincing at the pain, which only caused the rest of her body to hurt.
“Fuck,” she managed under her breath as she closed the notification with a finger.
The language she had spoken clearly wasn’t Teyvan, because Deshret immediately huffed. “Abyssal! Such a crude language!”
The hand on her arm loosened its grip slightly. Someone tall loomed over her, partially obscuring the bright light with his head. But hiding the light didn’t hide his grey hair, nor the look in his turquoise and orange eyes.
“Sharzad.”
To say Alhaitham looked relieved would have been an utter understatement. The mix of confused emotions, from joy to relief to concern graced his face more clearly than Sharzad had ever seen them before, transforming him into a man she couldn’t entirely recognise.
He must have really worried about me. Why? I thought we established that I’m not the person he knew.
She managed a small smile, avoiding her confusion at his concern for the moment. “Hi.”
Concentration suddenly took over Alhaitham’s face, and he reached for her neck, placing two fingers directly over her pulse point. He held them there for a few seconds, nodding slightly after a moment.
“I’m alive, Papa.”
“I had to check.” He knelt by her side, slowly bringing his hand under her shoulder. “Can you sit up?”
“Everything hurts.” Seeing his concern return again, Sharzad added, “It’s getting a little better, though.”
“Liar.”
Honestly, she had no idea why she kept hearing Deshret’s voice, but her determination to figure out why the hell she was quickly became enough to motivate her to sit up. Spite sometimes happened to be the best motivator, after all, and Sharzad was currently full of spite. Being told by a god that she had been sent to Teyvat for the sole purpose of sowing chaos by making deals with deities, yet without the proper forethought to consider the effects of making said deals on her fragile human body could do that to a person. None of this would have happened if ‘O’ and ‘N’ had thought about their actions for more than two seconds.
“Help me,” she said, before pushing her palms into the bed to lift her torso.
Alhaitham, thankfully, quickly caught on to what she wanted to do, and somewhat gently helped to settle her against the edge of the bed, with a series of pillows between her and the wall of the small hospital room.
“Thanks, I–” she tilted her head at him. “–what is it? You look . . . worried.”
The man looked down at her, gaze as imposing as only his could be (Kaveh couldn’t achieve this without looking hilarious, but he was considerably better at the disappointed look). “You were unconscious for five weeks, Sharzad. I have a right to be concerned about your well-being.”
“Oh, I’m fine.”
“You have a brand on your wrist.”
Blinking, Sharzad raised her arms so she could inspect her skin. Oh, right. The deal with Deshret. Fuck , how was she going to explain that? Alhaitham looked rather expectant right now, probably because he thought she was going to explain everything at some point.
She bit her lip. “Sooo, I did a thing.”
“Sharzad Athari, do not bullshit me.”
“I’m not!” She exclaimed, holding her hands up. “I’m just trying to figure out how to best explain what’s going on!”
“Then explain it!” the voice of Deshret . . . demanded . . . wait.
Sharzad blinked several times, because what?! The god just . . . casually stood in the corner of the room, next to Nabu Malikata, of all people. And yet, Alhaitham hadn’t seen them yet, or at least wasn’t paying them any mind.
“Shit!” She clamped her hand over her mouth.
Deshret rolled his eyes. “You are painfully vulgar.”
Nabu Malikata rested her hand on his forearm. “She’s in shock. It’s natural.”
“I am a king. She should pay me the respect I am due.”
Her vision of the two became obstructed by Alhaitham leaning into view. He looked directly into her eyes, searching for some sign of injury, but upon finding nothing of concern, he leaned back, arms crossed. “Sharzad.”
“Yes, fine! I . . . made a deal.”
An eyebrow rose a fraction of a centimetre. “Sharzad.”
“With a god.”
Another fraction of a centimetre. “Sharzad.”
“Two gods, actually.”
Dead silence. Then he leaned in. “I take it the deals were the way you acquired the elemental energy you used in the mausoleum. Elemental energy that was the reason you had to go unconscious for ‘system updates’?" His eyes narrowed into something of a glare. "What were you thinking?!”
Shit, I pissed him off, Sharzad thought. That’s not good.
Alhaitham suddenly stopped speaking, put his hand on his temple, then sighed. “No. That’s not the point, not when death was the other option.” Leaning back, he lowered his hand from his head. “How about you tell me which gods you made deals with?”
“. . . Deshret and Nabu Malikata.”
“How did you manage to make deals with two gods who happen to be dead? ”
“They’re not. Clearly.” Sharzad grumbled. “But it’s not like I made a deal for both of their powers! Deshret only gave me his authority on . . . select occasions.” Whatever that means.
“A fantastic choice on my part.” Deshret sniffed. “Given your behaviour is frightfully unbecoming of any sort of monarch. Giving you the authority of the sands would have been deeply unwise without any coaching.”
“Shut up,” Sharzad told him.
Alhaitham’s eyes narrowed. “I said nothing.”
Nabu Malikata walked to Sharzad’s other side, sitting cross-legged on the top of the bed. Yet, her form made no mark on the covers, nor did it disturb any physical objects.
Is she a ghost?
“Tell him we’ve been fused to your soul. That you can interact with us but no other mortal can.”
Wide-eyed, Sharzad nodded. “They were almost dead, Papa. So when I made the deal, they fused to my soul?” Seeing that Nabu Malikata was nodding, Sharzad continued. “Meaning I can see them and interact with them, but no one else can.”
“Sharzad, you need to–” he fell silent the second the doorknob began to move, not even turning around to see who walked in.
“Hey, Haitham. I’ll stay with her while you get something to—Sharzad! ” Kaveh had gone pale, momentarily frozen in place as he realised that she was sitting up and looking at him.
She tried to smile at him. “Hi, Dad.”
Stumbling forward as if he was drunk on his relief, Kaveh immediately knelt by the bed and embraced her. He held her tightly, entire body trembling despite Sharzad returning the hug, or, perhaps because she was returning the hug. Her shirt tightened as he gripped it like an anchor to reality. And he was sobbing, too, muttering words, prayers, thanks to the archons, to Celestia, that she was awake, that she was alive, that she was alright.
Sharzad blinked at the display. “You’ve been worried about me?”
I thought I showed you that I’d be fine? I thought that I told you the truth of my existence and that you didn’t care about me that much? I thought you knew that I am not the daughter you thought you raised, and that you should not care about me so much? I thought I made it clear that you’d never have to see me again once I finished my thesis.
As if he had read her mind, Kaveh leaned back and, though he was dishevelled and his face was stained with tears, he gave her the most disappointed, stern look he had ever given her. “Sharzad Athari, don’t you dare insinuate that I wouldn’t worry about you. I am your father. It is my job. ”
“I–” Sharzad opened and closed her mouth without saying anything.
“If you were going to say something about reincarnation and me not thinking of you as my daughter, I’m not letting you leave the city for a week.”
“You don’t even have to ask, dearest.” Alhaitham leaned over to plant a soft kiss to the top of Kaveh’s head, wiping his tears with a swift swipe of his thumb. “You know the answer.”
“I was giving her the benefit of the doubt!”
“She doesn’t need the benefit of the doubt when it’s written all over her face.” Alhaitham turned to Sharzad. “Right?”
She did her best to hold his gaze for a few moments, before burying her face in her hands. Fuck. He knows. They know. It’s all over. They’re going to kick me out and–I didn’t mean to get attached in the first place, so why is this bothering me so much? I should just be able to let go and live my own life away from them–
“Weak,” Deshret hissed.
“Shut up , Deshret!” Sharzad snapped, voice breaking as she said it. This wasn’t how this conversation was supposed to go, and she knew it. And now, Kaveh probably also thought that she was insane, so he’d hold on just because he felt guilty about all this, when it wasn’t even his fault to begin with.
Pulling herself from her thoughts, she tried to focus on the room to get a sense of what was going on and, more importantly, a sense of what Kaveh thought. She should be able to tell just by listening, right?
But everything she heard and felt came from her: rough breathing, shaking body, something dripping into her hands from higher in her face. Was she crying? No, she couldn’t—shouldn’t —be crying. Everything had been resolved! She’d take care of her graduation and move out, and then never have to interact with Kaveh and Alhaitham again. She could run away to Mondstadt and save the world. Easy.
So why was she crying? Why was her body betraying her like this?
Kaveh’s fingers ghosted over her hair. “Sharzad,” he said, tone somewhere between exasperation and care. Concern.
Not removing her hands from her face, she swallowed thickly. “Please. Don’t say something you don’t mean just because you feel guilty. Please don’t do that, not for my sake.”
Something shifted on the bed, a sudden weight added as Kaveh sat next to her. Gently now, he hugged her and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, letting her be the one crying on his shoulder. His hand shifted to her upper back, rubbing her back in soothing motions he’d only used once on her, the only time she’d ever had a panic attack in front of him.
“Sharzad. Listen.” She heard him take a breath, before he began to speak, voice soothing. “Alhaitham and I have been raising you for four years. You are our daughter. That didn’t change when you told us that you’d been reincarnated, and that isn’t about to change now. You are still my child: I still care for you, and I still love you.” Huffing a short laugh, he added, “And given what you called me five minutes ago, I don’t think you entirely believe what you’ve been thinking, either.”
“I didn’t call you–” Pushing herself off Kaveh’s shoulder, Sharzad rolled her eyes. “–ugh, Dad.”
Kaveh beamed at her. “Aha! There it is again!” He practically launched himself towards the door, bouncing on his toes. “I’m going to find a doctor, and we’ll have you out of here within the hour!”
Alhaitham huffed a laugh the second Kaveh closed the door, somehow looking lighter than Sharzad had ever seen him. Turning to her, he made his last point. “We’re going to talk about everything that happened later, once we’ve all processed what’s been going on. But we are going to address the deal you made, everything related to Gulnaz, and this whole you’re not my father situation.”
Rolling her eyes again, Sharzad sighed. “Fine.”
~~~
True to his word, Kaveh got her out of Bimarstan in less than an hour. The doctor he’d brought, a clearly experienced man flanked by one of his students, checked Sharzad’s condition, and upon noticing nothing wrong with her, only told her to come back in a week for a check-up before setting her free.
Walking felt weird after her body had been in the same position for over a month, but she somehow managed to stay upright as Alhaitham and Kaveh led her out of the hospital, into the warm Sumeru morning.
“So this is Sumeru City! ” Nabu Malikata sighed lovingly. “It’s changed from its founding, hasn’t it, Amun? ”
He scoffed. “Just more additions by humans who want to expand and control everything.”
Sharzad blinked at them, but, for fear of looking insane to the people around her (especially Kaveh and Alhaitham), she stayed silent. She wanted to ask about where they’d been, since they should have been able to leave her vicinity somewhat, unless they were bound to her completely.
“So, who else came to see me?” Sharzad asked after they’d left the Bimarstan far behind them. “Anyone from the Akademiya?”
“Ezhil stopped by once,” Kaveh replied. “Once he got better.”
Sharzad turned to look at him, forcing Alhaitham to drag her towards him to avoid her running directly into someone walking by. “Ow! Did he say anything? Also, wasn’t he horribly sick?”
Alhaitham didn’t apologise, instead uttering a single word: “Poison.”
“Oh.” Blinking several times, Sharzad looked at him . “Gulnaz?”
“Yes.”
“Ah. Shit. Did her trial happen, by the way? You two have told me nothing about her or the investigation, and I’d like to know about it.” Noticing Alhaitham and Kaveh sharing a meaningful look of ‘who’s gonna tell her?’ sent one of her eyebrows rising. “What? It can’t be that bad.”
Kaveh swallowed, then after a long pause, delicately said, “Are you sure you’re ready to talk about it?”
Sharzad hummed. “We can talk about my trauma and getting therapy later. I’d like to know if my attempted murderer is in prison or not.”
“The short answer is yes. The long answer is that Cyno will explain.”
“Good,” Nabu Malikata commented, voice considerably more furious than Sharzad had heard it so far. “Otherwise, you should have killed them in the mausoleum.”
“Criminals like them ought to face justice. Preferably at my hands, but perhaps that boy with Hermanubis’ power is an . . . adequate substitute for my judgement.”
For once, Sharzad was thankful for Deshret’s interjection. She wasn’t entirely certain how she might cope with actually killing someone she was familiar with, especially since the vague memories of throwing cultists into the abyss while singing . . . EPIC? Wait, what the fuck? Why was this the first time she was remembering that moment?! Singing, really?!
“Oh, that’s so embarrassing!” she mumbled, fighting the urge to hide her face in her hands as she felt it heat up.
“What?” Kaveh asked as Alhaitham unlocked the front door of their home.
“Nothing!” She dashed inside the house as soon as she could, relaxing as soon as she saw the familiar green-coloured light seeping through the stained glass windows. “Inventory!”
Pulling up the screen, she immediately started searching for the changelog she’d supposedly received. After a bit of searching the ‘Quest’ and ‘Precious Items’ tabs, she located the changelog.
Instead of appearing in her hands as a physical copy, a new tab popped up, displaying what appeared to be a short list of changes.
Kaveh’s voice broke her concentration. “What are you looking at?”
“Changelog. Very important. I only need a few minutes, promise.”
Without waiting for an answer, Sharzad began to read the long changelog.
~~~
Changelog V2.0
- Bonds option added to main menu for ease of access to familial perks and friendship bonuses. Includes friendship/family levels and detailed explanations of bond level rewards.
- Skill Menu added to Character Menu for ease of access to specific skills such as familial perks, friendship bonuses, and weapon proficiency.
- Godly Deals added to Archive for records of any deals made and their contingencies.
- Inventory has been reorganised and outfitted with new sorting systems. Gadget ability streamlined for ease of switching between owned gadgets.
- Your body has been readjusted to better tolerate high levels of elemental energy. Warning system added in order to adequately warn when elemental energy levels are too high.
- Background music setting updated with access to more music selections and a few extra perks. Enjoy!
- Godsense skill added. You are now able to sense any being able to make a deal with you within a distance of 500 metres.
- Wish options adjusted to compensate for the high amount of weapons in the catalogue. A third event wish will be added every month. Former Battle Pass idea was scrapped and any weapons added to the Standard Banner.
- Visibility added to Settings. Now, other people can see the parts of the System you want them to see.
NOTE: Upon finishing reading this changelog, the seal on your power will be removed, and all of your abilities will be restored. Thank you for your cooperation.
~~~
As soon as Sharzad reached the end of the changelog, the entire screen burst into gold sparks, flying straight towards her. The little shards of light cut across something just above her skin: a thin coat of energy she hadn’t even noticed until it was gone.
Immediately, something flooded her body, and that second heartbeat from the pyramid she hadn’t even remembered returned to its place under her skin. She stared at her arms as her nervous system glowed pink, power coursing through each nerve as it searched for an escape. Trembling from the sudden intake of energy, Sharzad frantically tried to slow her breathing, even as her heart accelerated to a dangerously high speed.
“Breathe,” came the soft voice of Nabu Malikata. “Slowly. And channel that power towards something productive. A garland of flowers. A crown. Something small.”
Doing her best, Sharzad nodded and tried not to panic.
“Sharzad, what’s going on?”
Well, Kaveh’s alarmed question certainly didn’t help.
Gritting her teeth, Sharzad raised her arm forward. “My abilities were sealed until I started glowing just now. Give me two seconds–” a simple flinch of her finger sent apple blossoms and magnolias blooming in Kaveh’s hair. How do I know what they are?! “–sorry! Shit!” Taking a shaking breath, Sharzad cupped her hands together, closing her eyes with a wince ready. “Please please please–”
She wasn’t thinking of anything in particular, but, somehow, flowers still bloomed in her hands. Peonies and plum blossoms, dahlias and daisies, laurel and lilac, all burst into life without care for beauty, for harmony, spilling over her fingertips and falling to the floor when her hands ran out of room.
The energy filling her body dropped to a more agreeable level. Her nervous system returned to normal, and the sigh she let out didn’t rumble with the wisdom and power of thousands of years. The blooms in her hands remained, still a mess, still tumbling to the ground.
Breathing in deeply, Sharzad turned towards her fathers to gauge their reactions. It couldn’t be that bad, right? Right?
Well, Kaveh was gaping at her, bug-eyed, and making a noise like a strangled gasp. Meanwhile all Alhaitham did was mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, “Shit,” before walking right up to her, crushing the flowers on the floor with his feet. He began inspecting her face very carefully, before he turned to her hands and then to the flowers resting in her hands.
“Everything looks fine,” he said, before giving her a very stern look. “We’re going to talk about this. Right now.”
“I agree!” Kaveh declared as he furiously began picking the flowers from his hair. “Explain to me how exactly you’re able to do–” he waved the apple blossom in his hand up and down. “–this! ”
Sharzad clapped her hands together. “Okay, so that’s very simple: I made a deal with a god. Well, two gods, but this is only the Goddess of Flowers’ power, sooooooooo . . .” she drifted off.
“You are terrible at explaining things,” Deshret pointed out.
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY–
“I am two seconds away from severing my deal with you, Deshret,” Sharzad snapped, not caring whether she looked insane anymore. He was getting on her nerves! “So unless you keep your insults for later, I am going to end my deal with you right now.”
Deshret waved a hand dismissively in her direction, before dissolving into purple smoke. This smoke then proceeded to zoom into the brand on her wrist, where it disappeared.
Sighing, Sharzad put her hands on her temples. “Thank the gods!” She turned towards Kaveh. “So, do you want to talk now, ooooorrrrrrr . . . ?”
Kaveh ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. “I’ll make tea. I think we’re going to need it.”
~~~
It took about an hour for Sharzad to explain a) what happened in the pyramid, b) what happened with Deshret and Nabu Malikata, and c) what the fuck just happened.
“So, yeah. Simple.” She winced as jasmines bloomed at her fingertips. “I have powers now and they’re being very annoying for no reason.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Nabu Malikata said cheerfully. “Just wait until you start dreaming again. They didn’t call me the Mistress of Dreams for nothing.”
Sharzad ignored this. “Anyway, I’m going to take a look at the Wish, and—is someone knocking on the door?”
Well, knocking wasn’t a strong enough word, since the person was outright banging on the front door. Any more force behind the movements would surely send it flying off its hinges and crashing into the living room. Whoever was on the other side was clearly determined, something that made Sharzad nervous. The last time someone had been determined to get to her it caused quite a lot of trauma that she hadn’t yet had the chance to work through.
Swallowing, she watched her skin start to glow pink again. The energy beneath it, that second heartbeat of pure power, threatened to burst out much stronger than it had been since she read the changelog. Her instincts threatened to take charge and send vegetation bursting through the house.
Apparently not noticing her sudden shaking body, Kaveh stood. “I’ll get it.”
From where he sat (on the other couch), Alhaitham raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you okay?”
Sharzad winced. “Ugh, yeah no–”
“Breathe, Sharzad.” Nabu Malikata wrapped her hand around Sharzad’s wrist. It was an uncomfortable sensation, neither cold nor warm or, rather, cold and warm at once in different places. “Channel your power in a localised space. Keep it close rather than letting it spread.”
Sharzad attempted to pull back the threads of power flying away from her. When sitting there didn’t work, she tried miming pulling something back with her hands.
“Your eyes are glowing,” Alhaitham commented. “Are you sure–”
A loud voice interrupted him.
“Kaveh, tell me why you didn’t let any of us know that Sharzad woke up?!” Cyno’s voice sounded indignant and furious, and it was matched by the crackling of electricity, no doubt summoned from his vision.
Sharzad immediately relaxed at the sound of the familiar voice, but unfortunately, the energy building still needed somewhere to go. Sighing, she raised her hand right above her head and snapped her fingers. A chain of flowers materialised in her hair, a few stray petals falling when she grazed one of the blossoms.
“Cyno, please calm down. You don’t have to do this–put the lightning away, you’re going to ruin my hair!”
Rolling her eyes, Sharzad decided to run towards the door. She still had a lot of elemental energy coursing through her body and she had a (fairly stupid) idea for what to do about it.
She found her father backing up from Cyno, who had fully formed the claw of his wolf-spirit thing and looked very pissed off. It took less than a second for several vines to burst from the floor and wrap around Cyno’s wrists, pulling him back towards the outside.
“Stay back, please,” Sharzad said, wincing at the sound of her own voice.
There has to be a way to turn off this Divine Messenger voice thing. I sound like I should have several hundred eyes and should be yelling BE NOT AFRAID every time I enter a room.
Cyno’s eyes widened. He struggled against the vines, sending electric shocks down their stems. “Sharzad, you’re–”
“Sharzad?!” This voice, distinctly female and younger, came from behind Cyno. “That was her?!”
Surprised at the sound of the voice, Sharzad dropped the vines immediately. “What the–”
Someone with strawberry blond hair pushed their way past Cyno, orange and red clothing suddenly the brightest colours in the room. Orange-gold eyes immediately found Sharzad’s gaze, widening as the newcomer straight-up beamed at her.
Then, after a pause, Yoimiya launched herself at Sharzad with enough velocity to send Sharzad stumbling backwards, an easy feat given that Yoimiya was seventeen and bigger than her. “You’re awake!”
“Ack! Yoimiya?!” Vines sprouted from the floor and supported Sharzad’s back, keeping her on her feet. “What are you doing here?”
Yoimiya stepped a step or so backward, hands on her hips. “You weren’t answering my letters, Sharzad, what did you think was going to happen?” She raised an eyebrow.
“In my defence, I was unconscious.” Sharzad snapped her fingers at the vines that had just sprouted in an attempt to get them to disintegrate. This took five attempts before it worked, and then she turned back to Yoimiya. “How long have you been here?”
“A week.” Tighnari, who was here, apparently, put his hand on her shoulder. “Glad to see that you’re okay.”
Sharzad snorted a laugh. “Not gonna call me a lummox or anything, Nari?”
“I don’t think that you made a stupid decision recently, so no. But it’s still early.” He patted her shoulder twice before walking off.
Yoimiya and Sharzad shared a very long, silent look. Feeling her lips twitch, Sharzad bit the inside of cheek in an attempt to stop from laughing. This did nothing, as Yoimiya’s left eyebrow twitched, which was enough to send both of them bursting into hysterical laughter.
“Sharzad.”
Cyno’s voice didn’t stop the laughter, but it certainly lowered it from guffaws to uncontrollable giggles. “Yeah?” she asked, voice strained from keeping the giggles down.
Deshret appeared next to Cyno, inspecting him from a distance that Cyno would have definitely thought was too close if he could see the god-king’s ghost. “Wielder of the power of Hermanubis. What are you doing here? ”
He can’t hear you, Deshret, Sharzad thought.
“You made a deal.”
Sharzad nodded. “Yes. Can you tell who with?”
“Yes.”
“It seems he cannot see ghosts,” Deshret mused. “But if you allow me to possess you for a moment—I would like to speak to the one who holds the power of my former sage.”
“You are not possessing me, Deshret,” Sharzad said firmly, turning towards him to make her point clear. Then, she turned to Cyno. “Can we talk about this later, Cyno? There’s a lot of stuff I have to explain to Yoimiya here, and–”
“Fine. We’ll talk about these or-deals later.”
Sharzad rolled her eyes at him. She watched Cyno wander towards Kaveh and immediately jab a finger in his chest, talking in low voices that didn’t completely reach Sharzad’s ears. It was probably a scolding, an idea that sent giggles bubbling back up Sharzad’s throat given how much shorter than Kaveh Cyno was.
“Hey.” Yoimiya’s hand wrapped around her wrist, catching her attention. “Are you going to explain what’s been going on?”
Biting the inside of her cheek, Sharzad nodded. “Oh, absolutely, and, before I start: Yoimiya, I am so sorry that I didn’t tell you what was going on–”
“Save the apologies for after whatever you tell me.” She clapped her hands together and bounced on her toes. “Now, before we do, are you going to show me this house of yours or are we just going to stand here at the entrance for an hour? I want to see that painting your fathers argued about for three hours straight.”
Sharzad snorted a laugh. “It’s near the kitchen—come on.”
Notes:
Sharzad's awake, woooooooo! I officially have ONE MORE CHAPTER of the prologue before the interlude begins. Not sure how long that will be, but those chapters will be more standalone before the Mondstadt arc begins. We'll get to meet Collei and Faranak, too :)
No notes this week, to be honest. Sharzad's finally going to deal with her trauma (and accept that Kaveh and Alhaitham are, in fact, her dads), experiment with new powers, and present her thesis like the gods intended (with a healthy does of Nabu Malikata and Deshret on the side).
HOWEVER, in lieu of notes, I DO have a fun poll! I'm working on the future plot and I'm wondering: which characters would you like to see Sharzad interact with? Whose story quest would you like to see her do? Is there anyone (within reason please) that you'd ship with her?
Genshin has so many amazing characters and I'd like to know who you'd like to see appear!
Hope you enjoyed :)
Chapter 21: Prologue: The End of Wisdom's Pathway
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
The End of Wisdom’s Pathway
Graduate from the Akademiya
Yoimiya, unfortunately, had to leave within the week, so Sharzad decided to make the trip to Port Ormos with her in order to hang out with her friend as much as she could.
“ Why are there so many of them?! ”
“Less questions about fungi please!” Sharzad exclaimed as she frantically tried to think of a thorny flower that might damage the large number of fungi attacking them. “I need to concentrate!”
Yoimiya’s vision glowed brightly. “ Fire hazard! ”
Several balls of flame, or perhaps sparks, formed and converged around Yoimiya’s bow. She began firing at a rapid speed, each shot accompanied by at least one fireball, driving the fungi a few steps back.
Sharzad, for her part, gave up on the thorny flower thing, instead brandishing her sword. “ Reflection of the Scribe! ”
A small Chisel-Light appeared over her left shoulder, and when Sharzad landed her next hit, a burst of Dendro energy exploded from the fungus, accompanied by the red text that just announced that this was a Burning reaction. Huffing at the distraction, Sharzad readjusted her grip on Freedom-Sworn and charged forward, dealing hit after hit to the fungi.
Flowers bloomed into life with every step she made, leaving a trail of her exact movements on the ground. Yoimiya’s flaming arrows burned some of them away, filling the air with floral-scented smoke that uncomfortably tickled the back of Sharzad’s throat whenever she got too close. The slashing of her sword blade was marked only by the squelching of fungus insides and their responding exclamations at the pain.
Tired as she was, Sharzad pushed on, trying to listen to Nabu Malikata’s urging hints and commentary on how to use her abilities in combat, on how to manifest roots, on how to manipulate the grass so the landscape might shift, on how to turn even the most innocuous blossoms into weapons. The fires continued to blaze despite this, and, eventually, the fungi gave up or died, leaving the girls alone again.
“Are you okay?” Sharzad asked her friend.
Yoimiya brushed her sweat-soaked hair from her face with a small smile. “Yeah. No injuries.”
Thank the gods.
This was thankfully the only battle they had to fight on their way to Port Ormos. Sharzad knew how dangerous the wilds of Sumeru could be, and the fact that a horde of fungi was the worst thing they encountered said a lot about their luck. At least people weren’t a concern, not until they arrived at Port Ormos, anyway.
The bustling crowds of shoppers and merchants filled the streets with shouting and laughter as people bartered and traded their goods. Everything smelled differently, from the rich teas of Chenyu Vale to the fresh-caught fish on sale for only a few pieces of Mora. The vibrancy followed them right towards the docks, and they spent a half hour wandering the markets and stopping to consider bundles of spices, colourful fabrics, little Aranara statuettes, and everything else that caught their attention.
“You’ll come to Inazuma sometime, right?” Yoimiya asked as they waited in line for the ship she was due to take.
Sharzad grinned. “Absolutely. I can’t wait to see the fireworks your family makes! And try dango and all of the street food during the festivals, of course.”
Her friend hugged her. “I’ll save you a spot with a good view, don’t worry.” She patted Sharzad’s head. “Since you’re so short.”
“I’m going to grow more!”
“I’m sure you will.” Yoimiya stopped hugging her as the line moved forward, meaning she was next to board the ship. “Can’t wait for your next letter. Bye Sharzad!”
Still smiling, Sharzad waved her friend goodbye. “See you Yoimiya!”
Sharzad waited on the pier until her friend’s ship departed and, as soon as she was away from prying eyes, she teleported to Sumeru City. Cyno hadn’t wanted to distract her from spending time with Yoimiya, but he’d clearly indicated that he wanted a full conversation about the deals she made with Deshret and Nabu Malikata. By teleporting to the Akademiya and finding Cyno’s office (though she was technically uninvited), she was taking initiative.
“I’m here to see General Cyno,” Sharzad told the members of the Corps of Thirty standing guard at the office’s door.
“The General Mahamatra doesn’t take any visitors,” the guard on the right said. “Not without prior appointment.”
Sharzad fought to suppress her eye roll. Akademiya protocol was one thing she was deeply annoyed with, especially when it came to visiting her family. Yes , they had important posts within the institution, but she couldn’t even go see Alhaitham—her father as most of the Akademiya knew by now—without making an appointment first! It was complete and utter bullshit.
“ I am a king! ” Deshret hissed. “ They will let you through. ”
Another thing Sharzad hated was the fact that she couldn’t answer Deshret’s declarations in public without looking insane. Right now, that was the last thing she needed, considering the attention on her because of everything that transpired in the desert (and everything that came before).
“Can you ask him, at least?” Sharzad asked between gritted teeth. “I’ll come back later if he says no, but Cyno–”
One of the guards looked down her nose at Sharzad. “ General Cyno.” One of the doors to the office opened, and the guard spluttered as she snapped into a shaking salute. “G-General Cyno, sir!”
“While I appreciate your dedication, Sharzad here has a pass.” Cyno glanced at her, signalling with his head that Sharzad was supposed to follow him into the office. “Meaning, please, pass through the door to my humble office.”
Sharzad didn’t dignify the joke with a response, instead following Cyno into the office. She found that it was a remarkably simple space, just big enough for someone to practise spear drills without hitting the walls or the desk. Windows on the side of the room allowed sunlight to illuminate the organised collection of paperwork surrounding an empty space right in front of the desk chair.
“Sooooo, we agreed we needed to talk.” She swallowed. “About Deshret. And my deals.”
“To be honest, this is mostly about Deshret and my connections to him.” Cyno removed his headdress, setting it on his desk. He didn’t look any less imposing like this, but the lack of a headdress definitely showcased his youth. “Let’s start with the simple: what do you know about my abilities?”
“Some stuff. Deshret’s been calling you stuff like wielder of Hermanubis’ power ever since I woke up, and I played your story quests in my old life.”
Cyno blinked. “My what now?”
Oops.
“Oh. So . . . I’ve never actually had to explain this before–” she laughed nervously. “I kind of don’t want to, either, since it’ll definitely cause an existential crisis for you and I don’t want that. But the point is, I know some stuff about fragments of power and Hermanubis being some sort of great sage to Deshret.”
The look Cyno gave her was clearly a we’ll address the other thing once we’re done with this stuff. “Okay. That’s better than I anticipated.”
“ Let me speak with him ,” Deshret ordered. “ Enough wasting of time. ”
Oh my gods you are the most impatient person in existence. Moments like these made it apparent that Deshret was the Scarlet King, that he had once been given everything he wanted within the second; however, these moments also made him look spoiled, something Sharzad did not appreciate.
She sighed, doing her best not to roll her eyes in case Deshret did something horrifying to her body when he possessed her in a few moments (because she had no choice if she wanted him to calm down, and because she’d come to terms with that over the course of the week). “Deshret wants to talk to you.”
“ I want to talk to you first about the deals you made. Whatever the stipulations were–”
“Cyno, the stipulations were entirely reasonable, but I won’t tell you any more. This is between me and the gods.” She sighed. “Do you want to talk to Deshret? Cause I’ll tell him no if you want me to.”
Deshret’s eyes glowed as he glared at her. “ Don’t you dare– ”
“Shush, I’m not talking to you,” Sharzad said, making the shush motion with a finger over her lips. She turned back to Cyno, an eyebrow raised. “So?”
The general crossed his arms, pausing for only a moment. “I’ll speak with him.”
“ Fantastic, ” Deshret said. He walked closer to Sharzad, raising one hand towards her forehead and the other to her heart. “ This will be painless, I promise you. Just relax and accept that this is happening. ”
“Didn’t know you were one to worry about my–”
Her voice cut off as Deshret made contact with her head and her heart, vanishing in a burst of golden light. She swayed on her feet, unbalanced, as the god took control of her body. In Sharzad’s case, this meant taking a sort of backseat in her own mind but being unable to move.
Deshret had the controls now.
~~~
Cyno expected something imperious as Deshret’s first comment, probably an order to bow or otherwise show respect to the Scarlet King. As someone from the desert (though Cyno had very little remaining connections to Eremite culture), Cyno knew enough about the king to understand that Deshret was his god, king of kings, Lord of the Sands and the Blazing Sun.
“ Your posture is horrible. ”
Blinking in surprise, Cyno watched Sharzad’s spine straighten. The change made her appear a few inches taller at least , but the true change in demeanour came from how Sharzad’s golden gaze glinted with pure authority, the kind only gods knew. This was Deshret, and yet he could see echoes of Sharzad’s performance in the mausoleum within her eyes, echoes of the casual threats towards Gulnaz and Bhaskara.
The Scarlet King surveyed the room for a long, slow moment, before finally turning his attention to Cyno. “ Ah. Hello, child. ” His voice was still Sharzad’s, but the tone was different enough that Cyno could tell it wasn’t the girl he brought from the desert to Alhaitham all those years ago.
“King Deshret,” Cyno said. “Is Sharzad still in there?”
“ Safe and sound. Do not concern yourself with her when we have pressing matters to attend to. ” Deshret leaned towards Cyno. “ Tell me: how is the desert these days? Sharzad’s knowledge is . . . woefully restricted, and I had the misfortune to be bound to areas with elevated concentrations of divine energy, which are not centres of human activity anymore. ”
Cyno contemplated how to answer this. What did Deshret know? What didn’t he know? Did he know that his great civilization fell to ruin? Did he know that his people had split into bands and went to war with each other based on petty differences in their theology? Did he know that few Eremites spoke the original Deshreti language, that so few of them clung to the old traditions that it was really Aaru Village that was responsible for keeping some of the old traditions alive? Did he know that so much knowledge had been lost that for the past centuries, the scholars who preceded Sharzad dedicated their lives to solving the great mysteries of the Deshreti civilization?
Did he know any of this? And how would he react to the truth? Would Cyno have to resort to fighting Sharzad at full power? He remembered the mausoleum, but he remembered finding her after she’d awoken, too, and he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of such raw and uncontrolled power .
“ Be honest with me. You are in safe hands. ”
I don’t think so.
“The people of the desert have been fragmented for millenia,” Cyno admitted after a moment. “They fight amongst each other and avoid the forest like the plague. Very few still speak the old language or live the way your people did.”
Sharzad’s lip curled. “ They are my people. So are you, child, though you have distanced yourself from the culture of your ancestors. ”
He narrowed his eyes. “I have never strayed from my heritage. What I’ve avoided is the senseless squabbles of the Eremites. I bring justice to the people caught in the crossfire of schemes. That is my role as General Mahamatra, Your Majesty.”
It felt strange addressing Sharzad as Your Majesty , yet it felt exactly right. This wasn’t the Sharzad Cyno knew. This was Deshret , Al-Ahmar, the Scarlet King. This was a god who ruled the desert for millenia, whose experience and authority could never be summed up in a thesis or a book. Deshret was an all-encompassing authority, the power above all, rumoured to be able to disintegrate anything into sand, to track anything in his realm, to turn bones to dust and speak to ghosts. A king of the desert. A king of the dead.
A king possessing Sharzad.
“ Well, such devotion can hardly be disregarded, ” Deshret mused. “ Tell me, General, where did you gain a fragment of Hermanubis’ power? ”
“I can’t recall.” Cyno formed one of the jackal claws around his closed fist. “I’ve had this since I was a child.”
Deshret neared Cyno’s arm, curiously inspecting the purple claw and the bandages of energy peeling off it. “ How intriguing. You have enough power to form a weakened version of his avatar, and enough to sense my own energy, yet you cannot see ghosts as he could. You could not see me after all, and I am spiritually stronger than any ghost. ”
This puzzled Cyno. The little he knew about Hermanubis indicated nothing about relationships to ghosts or death. Hermanubis had been a sage of Deshret, likely one of the warrior-priests who made up the handpicked elite of the Deshreti era.
“Hermanubis was a sage.”
“ Indeed. But Hermanubis was also a priest, having been born with a unique gift of seeing and communing with the dead. ” Deshret stroked his chin. “ Hmm . . . I will have to investigate this matter further on my own time, it seems, once I reclaim my crown. ”
“Reclaim your–”
Cyno stopped, staring as Sharzad’s body furiously shook, and in a moment, the authority and power faded from her gaze. Sharzad stepped back, panting furiously and staring at a space a few feet away from Cyno.
“I am not reclaiming your throne! I have other things to do , Deshret!” A short pause later, she huffed. “That wasn’t part of our deal, and you know it. Look, even Nabu Malikata knows!” She gestured in another direction, probably at the aforementioned Goddess of Flowers.
“Could you tell me what’s going on?” Cyno asked.
Sharzad sighed, running a hand through her hair in a way that was clearly derived from Kaveh’s own habits. “Deshret wants me to take the desert back, and that was not part of our deal.” She glared at the space where Cyno guessed Deshret was. “And I happen to remember the exact words thanks to the fact that it’s a deal with a god! I swore to end the Heavenly Principles’ tyranny and to strive for truth and knowledge even in the most uncomfortable of situations, not to take the desert back and rule it as its queen.” She waved a hand. “No, I don’t want to renew this deal in exchange for your full power! It’s enough with Nabu Malikata’s at the moment, look! ”
Cyno hadn’t even noticed the flowers sprouting around Sharzad’s feet until she gestured at them. There were a lot of them, too, multi-colored blossoms and grasses taking root on a stone surface that should not have allowed them to.
She sighed. “ Fine . We’ll revisit that later once you explain what it means to be your heir and successor . Got any other words for Cyno, or are we done here, Deshret?” After a pause, she nodded. “Thank you.”
Taking a deep breath, Cyno decided to ask, “All better?”
“Not really, but we’ll say yes if it gets you off my back. Did he answer all your questions?”
To be honest, Cyno had more questions than answers right now, but he wasn’t about to tell Sharzad that. So he nodded once and turned to look at the empty space Sharzad had been arguing with. He gave a short bow, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Sharzad giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“He’s not there anymore.” She tapped her head. “He’s in here now, I think. Mind palace situation or something. I haven't really figured it out.” After another pause, she walked forward to hug Cyno, before turning for the door. “I should head off. Bye Cyno!”
“See ya.”
As soon as the door shut, Cyno walked over to his desk and collapsed in the chair, hands on his temples. Too much had happened in a very short amount of time, and he needed to sort through everything.
Hermanubis’ power. Deshret. Naming Sharzad his heir.
Sighing, he leaned back in his chair. It seemed that it didn’t matter that Gulnaz was gone—Sharzad was going to get in trouble no matter what. And this time, trouble meant possible serious political consequences for Sumeru and the world at large. How would the archons react to someone declaring herself the desert’s queen, if Sharzad ever did so? The desert hadn’t had a ruler since Deshret himself, and if Sharzad took over . . . how many nations would be willing to accept that?
He sighed again. Deshret help me.
~~~
It took one week for the rumours to spread.
Sharzad wasn’t even aware of the rumours until a bold student a few years older than her asked her if she was really the lovechild of Deshret and Nabu Malikata. This student was clearly a junior of hers , a first-year or something who hadn’t yet heard that Sharzad wasn’t exactly the type to entertain questions about her identity.
Wrap the power close, don’t let it spread. A red hibiscus wove its way around her arm, the flower growing right over Sharzad’s wrist.
She stared at the student the moment the glow in her skin calmed. “I’m sorry, what?”
“It’s just something I overheard! That the lord of the desert has finally returned? Your . . . father?”
Deshret scoffed. “ Pah! As if I could ever father someone so insolent! ”
“ Behave ,” Nabu Malikata scolded him. “ This is not the time. ”
“Oh, Al-Ahmar is not my father,” she said, knowing that calling Deshret by his slightly more personal name annoyed him to no end. Sharzad tilted her head at the student. “You haven’t heard who my actual fathers are? You’re in Vahumana, so I would’ve thought you would have by now. People have been annoyingly adept at spreading the legends of their Queen. ” She scoffed, partially to hide the sudden chill she felt at the sound of the title.
The knowledge that her title had been orchestrated by her attempted murderers was beginning to impact her life in a more serious way. Every time she heard people mention it, she found herself spiralling into an abyss of memories, even more so when people mentioned it to her face. Every question about addressing her as Your Majesty reminded her of Gulnaz greeting her after she escaped the coffin, reminded her of the sheer terror of being locked in the sarcophagus, reminded her of trauma she would have preferred to forget.
The student spluttered. “I-I heard that the Light of Kshahrewar and the Scribe adopted you, but I thought that, perhaps–”
“Alhaitham and Kaveh are my fathers. I don’t know who my biological parents are, but as far as I’m concerned, the people who adopted me are my real fathers.” Well done, admitting the truth instead of hiding it like you’ve been doing. Sharzad gritted her teeth and did her best to contain her power as it had begun threatening to explode out of her body. “The power you and everyone else in this place have been seeing is a result of a very traumatic experience that I’d rather not relive, so unless you’ve got a more academic question for your senior , I suggest you back off. ”
Outright fear flashed in the student’s eyes. He gave a little bow towards her and scurried off.
Sharzad relaxed immediately, the power receding in less than a moment. “Thank fuck that’s over.”
So why do I still feel like I’m panicking?
“ Your vulgarity will never cease to amaze me ,” Deshret commented. Then, with an approving nod, he added, “ But that was a satisfactory display of authority, mortal. ”
This was the first time Deshret commented on her displays of authority, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Every social interaction she had was marked by his comments, especially those where some sort of grovelling was involved. The rumours of Deshret’s heir had somehow made it out of the Akademiya, and in recent weeks, Sharzad had been stalked by all sorts of curious people who very quickly learned that she knew they were watching her. It was one of the advantages of having two gods bound to her soul—Deshret and Nabu Malikata were extra pairs of eyes.
Nabu Malikata, especially, was a welcome presence outside of just being a lookout. Her calm instructions whenever Sharzad decided to actually practise using her new abilities kept her focused rather than panicking about the mistakes she made (especially the more destructive ones). It was less common for Sharzad to lose control and flood a whole room with vegetation these days than it had been two months earlier.
Thank God–the archons– someone she wasn’t allergic to pollen this time around, because she would have been suffering ever since she woke up.
And the past few months had been chaotic, between her waking up, presenting her thesis, starting to take her own commissions for the Adventurers’ Guild, celebrating her fourteenth birthday ( how the fuck am I only fourteen?! ), and starting to plan a trip to Fontaine as a celebration of her graduation and to meet her grandmother.
Of course, her graduation wasn’t until January, so she still had a four-month period from waking up to graduating to take care of everything from starting going to therapy for recently developed panic attacks and dissociation to experimenting with the new settings ‘O’ and ‘N’ had given her and her newly unlocked friendship bonuses for Cyno and Tighnari: King of Invokations and Tighnarian Tactics respectively.
The first could only be used in a game of Genius Invocation TCG (which Sharzad had only picked up because Cyno used it as an excuse to spend more time with her post attempted sacrifice), and the second dramatically enhanced her senses of smell and hearing.
“Is this how you feel constantly?! ”
Tighnari patted her shoulder. “You’ll get used to it. My best advice is to stay away from any strong perfumes when you use it.”
“Easier said than done,” she grumbled.
So, yeah, the months before her graduation were easy enough, with days alternating between practising using her abilities and taking trips to the Akademiya for therapy appointments. Being a graduate of the Akademiya meant she had no obligation to begin a new step of research (though she received plenty of offers to continue), and so she had declared a semester of rest so she could choose a new research topic for the next step: becoming a Dastur.
She was leaning heavily towards a paper on Nabu Malikata, given her new connection to the goddess herself. Using her advantages, like having the Goddess of Flowers bound to her soul, Sharzad could in theory speedrun a second thesis and leave Sumeru with full Dastur status, which would hopefully make anyone underestimating her because of her age pay a little more attention.
~~~
“Ad astra abyssosque! Welcome to the Adventurers' Guild.”
“Hi Katheryne!” Sharzad said cheerfully. “All four commissions done for the day!”
Katheryne, being a robot, continued the script she always used for adventurers. “Thank you for completing today's commissions. Here is your reward.”
And she handed Sharzad a small pouch of coins, which simultaneously triggered a few additional rewards in Sharzad’s inventory, primogems among them. Which added up for her next ten-pull on one of the new weapon banners: Light of Foliar Incision, also known as Alhaitham’s signature weapon. Was it strategic to pull for something she didn’t conceivably need? Absolutely not. But Sharzad wanted to look cool, too, and the sword in question fit her aesthetic quite well.
After thanking Katheryne, Sharzad tucked the pouch away and sprinted off towards home.
They would be celebrating her graduation at Lambad’s Tavern that evening, and Sharzad wanted enough time to get ready, especially since she’d just spent an hour working on commissions in the hot, humid rainforest (she was desperate to avoid the desert). To make matters more complicated, she’d spent the whole morning attempting to equip and upgrade Deshret’s own ceremonial flail—found in a locked chamber of the god-king’s library—to no avail. The System wouldn’t let a supposed sword wielder upgrade a supposed polearm.
If she wanted to use the ancient weapon without damaging it, she needed to actually unlock her spear abilities, and for that, she needed to ascend herself (which was a thing, somehow). Which meant she had to prepare by upgrading her food stores and training her powers and swordsmanship so she felt confident going into the challenge . . . ugh .
So Sunfire’s Scourge (the flail) remained in her inventory along with Deshret’s ceremonial crook, his khopesh, and his very large collection of knives and daggers (to the king’s immense disappointment). Meanwhile, Nabu Malikata promised Sharzad that they would eventually travel together to the Orchard of Pairidaeza, where she had hidden her own cache of weapons and equipment. This came as a surprise given Nabu Malikata’s generally peaceful reputation, but then again, she had a tendency to support murdery solutions to Sharzad’s problems even more so than Deshret, so perhaps this should not have been shocking.
She arrived at home after a short walk and, upon noticing that her fathers weren’t there, seized the opportunity to shower and wash her hair. The day’s commissions and failed attempt at equipping Sunfire Scourge had resulted in quite a lot of dirt and grime clinging to her skin, and she certainly wasn’t about to go to her own party with dirt on her face (if he was corporeal, Deshret would have surely killed her if she left like that).
Once she had finished, she settled on her bed with a fresh notebook open in her lap, eager to catalogue the weapons Deshret had reluctantly given her access to. She already had the idea to conceal one of the smaller daggers somewhere on her person, in case she lost her sword in combat.
“ How paranoid of you ,” Deshret scoffed.
“Would you rather your only potential heir dropped dead?” Sharzad asked him. Leveraging the whole taking back the throne thing was really the only way to reason with Deshret, meaning Sharzad had to use that to excuse half of the decisions she made. The rest of them were criticised regardless.
The sound of the front door opening and closing sent her head snapping upwards. Flowering vines and branches sprouted across her bedroom door, already forming a barricade against possible intruders.
“Sharzad?” came Kaveh’s voice.
She relaxed, forcing the growths at her door away with a wave of her hand. Gestures and small sounds, though unnecessary in Nabu Malikata’s opinion, were a surefire way of ensuring that the plants behaved the way Sharzad wanted them to, so she used them in order to adequately control the flora she produced.
“Here!” she exclaimed after remembering Kaveh’s original question, before turning her attention back to her catalogue.
Hmm, should I sequence the shorter blades by length or by style? Both? I could measure them and sequence them by blade type, although that might take longer . . . it’d be more organised though.
Her bedroom door opened, no doubt Kaveh checking in on her. “Are you ready to go?”
Sharzad didn’t take her eyes off her notebook, now drawing a chart using Architect’s Scion to make the lines perfectly straight. “Yeah.”
“First it was Alhaitham, but now you, too?” Kaveh sighed, the eyeroll clear in his voice. “Look at me when you’re talking, Sharzad.”
“I can talk fine without bothering to look up. It’s not meant to be impolite.”
“Watch your attitude, missy.” But he smiled at her. She could hear it in his voice. “Give me ten minutes, and then we’ll head off.”
“Cool.”
When she finally looked up, he was gone. Humming to herself, Sharzad resumed her cataloguing, sketching out a rough outline for a numbering system that would allow her to identify the knives by size and type rather than just by sight.
“ You’re treating these like treasure, not like weaponry ,” Nabu Malikata commented.
Sharzad shrugged. “They’re artefacts, technically. And as an archaeologist, I should make use of the tools I have. Makes it easier to know which is which, anyhow.”
“ They’re weapons. Purpose built for harming. ”
“I thought Deshret said some of them had ritual significance? Shouldn’t I avoid using ceremonial weapons in combat?”
Nabu Malikata laughed. “ Ha, that is true! Only, ritual-use daggers have no use in combat, anyway. You’ll find that their gold is too flimsy to do any sort of lasting damage. ”
Oh. She hadn’t even considered that some metals might be useless in a combat setting. You should’ve considered that, stupid.
Aloud, she nodded and made a note in the margins of her notebook. “Alright.”
She remained there for the next fifteen minutes or so, until Alhaitham (when had he come back home?) came to her room to grab her. With Kaveh, they made their way to Lambad’s Tavern. Tighnari, Cyno, and Faruzan had already arrived, all of them sitting around a table already laden with food. Sharzad silently wished that Yoimiya could have also been here, but she was unfortunately busy, and couldn’t afford to take another trip to Sumeru when there were fireworks to make and a business to learn to take over.
A few hyacinths bloomed in the centre of the table, some red, some yellow, in a sort of imitation of Yoimiya’s colour scheme. Sharzad did her best to ignore them.
Tighnari, however, did not. He picked up one of the hyacinth blossoms, holding it up so he could inspect it. “This is a fantastic specimen, Sharzad. Have you still been sprouting flowers?”
“Yes, but not as much as it used to be,” she said, shrugging. Reaching across the table, she grabbed a fish roll and dropped it on her plate. “I've been keeping them mostly under control. I haven’t flooded a room with plants in a hot minute.”
Cyno lowered the fish roll he was halfway through eating. “Would you say you’re an early bloomer , Sharzad, or do you think it’s taking a while for your control to take root? ”
Sharzad snickered. “Double pun, really?”
“You’re laughing.”
“If I’m the only one who can appreciate your jokes, so be it.” Shrugging, she took a bite of her fish roll, knowing full well that Alhaitham did appreciate the jokes, even if he made a show of turning on his noise-cancelling headphones every time Cyno made one of his jokes.
Speaking of her father, he made a sound like a scoff. “Calling her a late bloomer is an insult, Cyno,” he said, voice surprisingly calm despite Cyno’s implied insult to Sharzad’s greatness (not that she minded the joke, but whatever). “Graduating from the Akademiya in four years with several honours from her Darshan. Better than you accomplished, junior.”
Sharzad ducked her head. “Don’t use my Akademiya accomplishments to prove I’m better than him.”
“I don’t see why he shouldn’t,” Faruzan said. “After all, we came here to celebrate your accomplishments.”
Kaveh raised his cup of wine. “Speaking of celebration, I propose a toast. To Sharzad, my amazing, accomplished daughter!"
“Ugh, Dad .” Sharzad covered her face. “People are watching.”
“Then let them hear how amazing you are!”
She did her best not to slide under the table out of embarrassment, still covering her face to hide her embarrassed blush.
Yet between her fingers, she smiled wider than she had in a long while as the adults around her—her family—all clashed their cups and said her name in celebration of her hard work, her accomplishments, her survival of all the dangers her schooling had brought her.
And if this could all come crashing down one day in the not-so-distant future, she’d be damned if she didn’t enjoy the moment she had.
Notes:
You guys get a very long chapter this week :)
1) I would have included Yoimiya's story quest 2, but decided against it for the moment (it'll come later, I promise).
2) So, the whole possession thing is a rather simple mechanism: Sharzad has to be accepting of it, and then Deshret/Nabu Malikata can temporarily gain control of her body. But if she rejects them for any reason during the possession (like, I don't know, saying that Deshret might reclaim his throne), the god is violently thrown from her body. There's other repercussions for Sharzad's pov we'll see next time this happens.
3) Hermanubis' name comes from a Greco-Egyptian deity who brings souls to the underworld, so I figured he might as well have some death-related elements to his power (and consequently, Deshret had some, too, as the desert's ruler).
4) The crook and flail are the ceremonial scepters of the Pharaohs of Egypt, and so it made sense to make them Deshret's weapons, too. A khopesh is a hooked Egyptian sword, and you guys know what knives are :) (although a really cool meteorite iron dagger was found in King Tutankhamen's tomb, so look that up if it interests you)
5) We get to see everyone kind of hanging out which is great! Next week, we'll see the first chapter of the interlude: the trip to Fontaine (woooooooo!)
Hope you guys enjoyed all this, and remember, the story is just beginning!
****HALT**** This is a mandatory rest break for all of you trying to binge your way through this fic. Stretch, drink some water, eat a snack, and GO TO SLEEP if it's past midnight. You have so much time to read through Sharzad's adventure, so take a break and preserve your health and sanity. This fic will be here tomorrow :)
Chapter 22: Interlude: A Trip to Remember
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
A Trip to Remember
Take the aquabus to the Court of Fontaine
“Welcome to the Clementine Line aquabus! My name is Aeval, and I will be your conductor today!”
The little Melusine standing at the front of the aquabus had blue and white fur and eyes so dark blue they reminded Sharzad of the deeper parts of the sea they’d crossed on their way to Fontaine. She waved her hands around, brushing past her short blonde hair as she spoke excitedly about the land she called home.
“This boat tour will take you to the magnificent Court of Fontaine, the most important city in our nation!”
Sharzad leaned along the edge of the aquabus so she could catch a glimpse of the mountains as the boat took them along the edge of the gorgeous green and blue landscape. The scenery here was jarringly different from Sumeru’s, yet familiar in a way that Sharzad could sort of place. It was that I saw this in animated form familiarity, where she had a sense of what things looked like but not in such a realistic way. She’d felt the same way in Sumeru, but had not been able to place or process those feelings because she’d been too busy learning Teyvan to have time to process things like emotion .
Aeval continued speaking as the boat moved along. “Speaking of Fontaine, you may have heard of the unique trials held in our courts, and presume this nation to be a very serious and solemn place. In reality, Fontaine is also a centre of culinary and artistic delights, full of fine architecture, music, paintings, and noble traditions, each of which are well worth experiencing for yourself . . .”
It was easy to notice Kaveh perk up at the word architecture , something that forced Sharzad to turn her head to keep from laughing at how excited he looked. The differences between Fontainian and Sumerian architecture had become clear the moment they arrived at Romaritime Harbor, even when you looked at the stone used. Sumeru’s shades of yellow and orange from the sandstone so often used in construction was completely different from the near pure white of Fontainian stonework. The occasional pops of blue or gold amidst the white made it more bearable to walk through, but on sunny days, sunglasses had to be a must, otherwise your eyes would burn up.
“Why is architecture first in this list, you might ask? For good reason! Because for any new passengers, you'll get your very first look at the splendour of the Court of Fontaine towards the end of this tour! So keep your eyes peeled, and prepare to gasp with amazement when the moment comes!”
Oh, Sharzad was already gasping, but it was because she’d just spotted a small family of blubberbeasts sunning themselves on rocks by the water. Even from afar they looked so round , like fluffy beach balls. She was going to take a walk along the beach at some point, if only to see the creatures up close.
“ They are quite adorable, aren’t they? ” Nabu Malikata commented, leaning over the edge of the aquabus with the reckless abandon of a goddess who had died thousands of years before.
Sharzad nodded her agreement as they lost sight of the round seal-like animals.
“Look, everyone! Approaching us up ahead is Mont Automnequi, which lies between the port and the Court! Though not particularly steep, if our course were to wind around the top of the mountain, our little boat wouldn't be stable and calm like this, but a white-knuckle water park ride! When they were building the waterways, they had to invite experts from the Fontaine Research Institute. The experts brought huge, amazing machines, and bored a hole through Mont Automnequi. It really was a massive project.”
And so the ship began passing through a very long tunnel carved right out of the stone. Sharzad gazed at the lights bouncing off the ceiling in awe, struck by the beauty of the blue ripples of light.
I am coming back here later just for the pretty lights.
“The aquabus is now entering Poisson Tunnel! Everyone should now be able to see the light from the aquabus more clearly. Beautiful, isn't it?” When the people on the ship nodded their agreement, Aeval continued. “It's very different from the fluorescent materials used in Sumeru, or the torches used in other countries! These are Fontaine-exclusive night lights powered by Indemnitium! Of course, Indemnitium isn't just for such trivial uses as lighting. It is a power source capable not only of powering this tiny aquabus but also meeting the daily energy demands of an entire city. Plus, it's completely safe! You'll have the chance to learn more about this amazing power source once you reach the Court of Fontaine!”
Isn’t Indemnitium created by the Oratrice Mechanique D’Analyse Cardinalle?
Sharzad immediately regretted her thoughts, as a certain TikTok remix of the long name began spinning through her brain. She spent the rest of the ride trying to get it out.
~~~
Their first night in the Court of Fontaine was calm, mostly spent wandering the streets and eating the crepes they snagged off a street merchant. Given their hotel was tucked right against the western wall of the city, all they had to do was head east to find something new to see, like the central plaza, the gardens, or the Steambird’s main building.
Given that she preferred to explore on her own, Sharzad planned on leaving the hotel early in the morning, but she was caught by Alhaitham, who dragged her back to bed from the door. Deshret and Nabu Malikata watched her struggle with mirth sparkling in their eyes.
“Kaveh doesn’t need this right now,” Alhaitham told her. “You can explore on your own after meeting your grandmother. Now sit.”
Rolling her eyes, Sharzad sat down. She spent the next two hours creating flowers, trying to control exactly what she made instead of just . . . creating something random or a rough approximation of what she wanted. It seemed to work, although the flower species weren’t always correct. At least the colours themselves tended to be, which was nice. She set the good flowers on her bed, wrapping them in thread so they formed a bouquet to bring along with the Sumerian wine Alhaitham had selected as a gift for her grandmother.
Eventually, the appointed time to visit Faranak arrived, and so the three of them left the hotel for the apartment further down the city streets. The place was bustling as it had been the day before, and yet they had a second of peace once they arrived at the correct door. Probably because of the fact that it was tucked behind the building rather than in the front, where the shops were.
Kaveh knocked on the wooden door after a moment’s hesitation, something that made Sharzad narrow her eyes at him.
His shoulders were back further than normal, posture rigid as if any movement would send him falling in a million pieces. Though he was smiling already, it seemed fixed, and it didn’t reach his eyes in a natural way.
“You’re nervous,” she blurted out.
“I’m not, Sharzad.” Her father’s voice was strained. “Now smile. I hear footsteps.”
Indeed, two seconds later, the door flew open, and a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair stepped out into the street. Her clothing was pure Fontaine—a lilac-coloured dress with a high collar, jewellery all over, and hair adorned with a matching hairpin. She smiled at Kaveh, whose own smile didn’t seem as happy as his mother’s.
“Kaveh, how wonderful it is to see you!” Her voice was joyful, like a bell ringing out good news as she hugged her son.
“Mom. Hi.” He gestured vaguely to Alhaitham. “This is–”
“You must be Alhaitham!” An embrace came for Alhaitham, too. “My, you look a lot like your parents, dear, although I apologise—I suppose you must get that a lot.”
“Not as much anymore, thankfully. I’ve made my own name in the Akademiya.”
“Quite the achievement. As I recall, both your parents were quite accomplished.” Faranak laughed. “They gave everyone from our time a run for their money!”
“So I’ve heard.”
Kaveh set his hand on Sharzad’s shoulder. She felt it trembling through her body. “Mom, this is Sharzad. Our daughter.”
Faranak turned her attention to Sharzad immediately, gaze seemingly x-raying her as if she was attempting to find any fault with her, or perhaps any sign of mistreatment? It was hard to tell. Maybe she was like those Italian mothers that fed you if you showed even the slightest bit of bone when you stretched.
Cautious, Sharzad gazed at the woman in front of her for what felt like an eternity, until Faranak gave her a hug, too. The smell of Sumeru Roses filled her nostrils as Faranak withdrew, still beaming. A glimpse of flower-covered horns dragged her attention towards Deshret and Nabu Malikata, the former following the latter as she bounced from flowerpot to flowerpot in the general vicinity.
“It’s fantastic to finally meet you, Sharzad.”
She pulled her gaze away from the wandering spirits of the gods in order to nod towards Faranak. “Likewise.”
Faranak gestured towards the door with a smile. “Come now, don’t stand there—come inside!”
And so they were ushered into a narrow passageway with a staircase leading to an upstairs apartment. After taking off their shoes, they took the staircase up, up, up to a large, open landing. On one end, a kitchen and dining table took up the space and on the other, a wide living room with windows that let in the light of day and a sight of the grey clouds floating towards the city.
A man seemingly appeared out of thin air, stepping out of the kitchen with a glass of wine in his hand. His well-coiffed hair, though streaked with grey in places, was the colour of dark chocolate, and he wore a pair of dark grey trousers and a pale blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He leaned in to whisper something in Faranak’s ear before giving a nod to Kaveh.
“Hello, Kaveh.”
Faranak smiled brightly. “Sharzad, Alhaitham, this is Pierre, my husband.”
Alhaitham shook Pierre’s hand, but Sharzad just waved. “Hi.”
“Splendid to meet you both,” Pierre said. “I do apologise for any racket from the other rooms—Astrid is still getting ready. And, as Faranak no doubt told you in her last letter, Félix cannot be here because of a performance in Snezhnaya.”
Sharzad remembered those names—Kaveh and Faranak had both mentioned them (in person and in letters, respectively). They were Kaveh’s step siblings, both younger than him by a number of years but still older than Sharzad by a bit. If Sharzad remembered correctly, Astrid was the younger one, probably about sixteen or seventeen now, while Félix was older, maybe nineteen or twenty. He’d met them once when they were kids, at his mother’s wedding, apparently. Now, Félix was a wildly successful musician who often visited the other nations for performances, while Astrid was in training to join the Maison Cardinalice as financial adviser or something.
“Can I offer you anything to drink?” Faranak asked. “We have some lovely Fontainian wines to try, all from the vineyards around Poisson.”
“Sounds great,” Kaveh replied.
Yes, it was great, though Sharzad was rather miffed she wasn’t asked about drinks. At least, until Faranak returned with three wineglasses, one of which was swiftly delivered to Sharzad’s hands.
Kaveh stared at the glass in Sharzad’s hand. “Mom, what are you doing?”
“What? She’s old enough for her first drink.”
Sharzad gave the wine an experimental sniff, before handing it back to Faranak. “No thank you. I’d rather keep my body intact until I’m eighteen. Or even twenty.” She had vague memories of her old self making poor decisions as a teenager, and frankly, she didn’t want to be caught drunk when she had powers that could be set off at the drop of a pin (case in point, the small stem of lavender she could feel growing around her ear). “Could I just have water, please?”
Pierre leapt into action before Faranak could say anything, returning from the kitchen with a glass of water, which he handed to Sharzad.
“Thank you.”
“ Merde , they’re already here?!” A dark-haired figure burst into the room, sliding in on socks.
When the figure stopped, Sharzad realised that it was a girl a few years older than her. The first thing she noticed was the pale green outfit she wore, particularly the fact that it included pants and not a dress of some kind. The next was that this girl looked rather well-put together despite her panicked entrance, hair swept into a ponytail and posture mostly straight.
She made a beeline for Kaveh, hugging him tightly. “Hi!”
“Astrid, hello. You’ve grown.”
“And you’re old,” she replied, wrinkling her nose at Kaveh.
“ Astrid ,” Pierre said in a warning tone.
“I hear you even have a child now. How’s parenthood?”
Sharzad snorted a laugh that caught the other girl’s attention.
Beaming, Astrid basically bounced towards Sharzad, wrapping her in a hug that lifted Sharzad from the floor. “Oh, you must be Sharzad! Hello!”
She waved as soon as she was placed on the floor. “Hi, Astrid.”
“Oh, none of that formal nonsense, we’re family!” Astrid turned towards the kitchen. “I’ll grab you a drink and some snacks, and you can tell me all the embarrassing things Kaveh does.”
“Sharzad, do not tell her anything,” Kaveh warned.
Incentivised into disobedience by the order, she stuck her tongue out at her father and joined Astrid on one of the plush couches.
“Here, non-alcoholic.” Astrid handed her a glass of some sort of cherry-flavoured drink. “ Maman can be a little out of touch sometimes, especially when it comes to alcohol.”
“Why?” Sharzad asked before she could stop herself.
Deshret appeared next to her just so he could facepalm, before disappearing, presumably to chase after his lover again. They could wander in a slightly further radius than they had previously thought, and so they were probably checking out the shops downstairs, or the other rooms of the apartment.
Astrid lowered her voice and leaned in towards Sharzad. “She’s never understood some parts of raising children. I mean, when I was seven, a little after she married my father, she got me a carving knife as a birthday present. And then, I did a thing –” she held out her right hand, showing how her index finger was two-thirds gone. “–so now I’m missing part of my finger.”
Sharzad glanced at her grandmother. “So alcohol isn’t the worst of it?”
“No. She’s better, of course, but she still slips up as all of us do.” She plucked a piece of bread covered with some sort of jam and cheese from the plate she’d brought and daintily took a bite from it. “But enough about her. Tell me about my brother’s antics.”
Brother? Not stepbrother? I thought their relationship was more tense than that. Dad certainly made it seem like it was.
“What do you want to know?” Sharzad took a sip of her new drink, finding the taste remarkably pleasant, both tart and sweet in the way cherries could be. “He does a lot of things.”
Astrid raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Such as?”
“He once tried telling me a dad joke but ended up laughing so hard that he couldn’t get through it in the first place. He does that a lot when he wants to tell a joke.”
“Hmm.” Astrid’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Tell me more.”
And she did.
She told Astrid about Kaveh tripping over a bucket he’d set down two minutes prior, and about how overprotective concerned he became whenever he saw her talking to a boy close to her age. She spoke of Kaveh building Mehrak and giving her a name, of his inability to stop talking when he began a rant about architecture, of his ebbing and flowing bickering-then-kissing relationship with Alhaitham.
Astrid, in turn, shared anecdotes about her parents and her brother, and the two girls spent the next few hours trading stories. Time went by so fast that Sharzad didn’t realise that it was time to leave until Deshret and Nabu Malikata caught her attention and pointed out that it was past halfway through the afternoon.
“You know, I think that went well,” she commented as they walked back towards their hotel.
Kaveh, to her surprise, nodded. “You know what? I agree.”
~~~
They spent most of the trip wandering Fontaine and seeing the more popular sights. Sharzad had the chance to visit the Opera Epiclese, to see the floating Fontaine Research Institute, and to swim in the shallows to the east of the Court of Fontaine.
Well, swim was a strong word since Sharzad had only ever learned the basics of staying afloat , so she resigned herself to splashing through the shallows with Alhaitham hovering by her side, ready to catch her if she slipped or wandered off too far into the deeper portions of the water. For once, it was Kaveh who had a book (one about dramatic historic trials of Fontaine) and Alhaitham who was engaging her in conversation, pointing out various things and teaching her how to call them in Fontainian, the language of old still spoken by much of the nobility in nation of Hydro.
And the next morning, they finally visited the Palais Mermonia. Her fathers allowed her to wander on her own as Kaveh dragged Alhaitham around the building, pointing out everything from architecture styles to the differences in stone choice he could see. Apparently, Faranak had a hand in redesigning a once decrepit portion of the magnificent building, something that had given her a boost in status and clients among the Fontainian elite.
Sharzad decided to choose a quieter portion of the exterior to visit, having found a small sliver of balcony overlooking Elynas and the Fontainian sea around the back of the Palais Mermonia. People walked right by the area, more concerned with accessing the Callas aquabus line or the manicured gardens than any old balcony.
Breathing in the salty air, she glanced at the goddess of flowers. “It’s so much water, don’t you think, Nabu?”
“ This much water would be a prized possession in the desert. You know, the early peoples of the desert fought over me and my power to create oases in the days before I met Amun. ” She tilted her head back with a laugh; Sharzad half expected the sun to glint off her horns, but was disappointed by the reminder that Nabu Malikata was non corporeal. “ My wounds produced the purest of springs, many of which still flow today. ”
“Do you think I’d be able to do that?”
“ I don’t know, Sharzad. We haven’t even had the chance to test your abilities related to my other domains because you have avoided confronting them. Thanks to your own research, you know that I was not just the Goddess of Flowers. ”
Lord of Joy and Happiness, Mistress of Dreams, Queen of All Oases, Queen of the Garden. The titles added up every time Sharzad read them in a book and every time Deshret proclaimed them as reason for Sharzad to act more like a queen than a clueless teenager. Deshret also had an unfortunate habit of listing his own titles, something that brought further weight to the decision of amending her deal with him and agreeing to take the desert’s throne.
Sharzad swallowed, hands trembling. “I know . But it’s just—I’m trying to avoid PTSD triggers and–”
“ You explained it to me. But would it not be better to interact with the desert instead of avoiding it? ”
Deshret materialised from the brand on Sharzad’s wrist, scoffing as he leaned against the balcony. “ I think so. But since you already deemed my opinion worthless, I suppose I shouldn’t be speaking in the first place. ”
“ Since when do you care about what Sharzad thinks? ” Nabu Malikata laughed again. “ You’ve spent six months complaining about this connection. ”
Skill Godsense , activated. Divine presence detected.
Sharzad blinked in surprise. The skill had been activated when they visited the Opera Epiclese—no doubt because of the Oratrice Mechanique d’Analyse Cardinale—but there was no deity here to make a deal with. Furina was a fake archon, after all, although Sharzad was the only person in Teyvat (besides Furina herself) who knew this.
Curious, she watched the little red dot she could see behind her slowly get larger, the distance meter under it slowly counting down from five hundred. She turned back towards the sea in an attempt to look like she was busy so the deity arriving wouldn’t think her too suspicious.
Geraniums blossomed at her fingertips, wrapping around the balcony as she grasped it, leaning forward for a dizzying view of the ground far, far below. Why did she feel like puking? Why was she so nervous? This was a deity in Fontaine, it couldn’t be that bad .
“ Someone is here .” Deshret announced. “ It’s that blasted dragon. ”
Sharzad furrowed her brows at the land below. Neuvillette?
Wait. Right. ‘O’ had said she could make deals with dragons, right? So the presence was . . . oh shit.
She made a show of leaning back with a sigh and slowly turning her head like she was stretching it, freezing the moment she set her sight on the tall man standing at the entrance to the balcony.
It was another case of inhuman looks, in her opinion, given the pointed ears and the blue . . . horns? Hair? Sticking from his excessively long white hair. His long overcoat was a dark shade of navy just blue enough to appear other than black, with golden clasps and pale blue details on the underside. Given the bulk of clothing under the overcoat—at least a shirt and a waistcoat, not to mention the excessively ruffled necktie—Sharzad guessed that he wasn’t actually as large as he appeared, but probably more lithe, like Kaveh. And his height, well . . . the inch of heels he wore wasn’t making much of a difference on how much he towered . Something like radiation pulsed off him in waves, a sign of his power echoed by the System notification that this was the deity her Godsense was, well, sensing.
Neuvillette noticed her jumping at the sight of him, as he was the first to speak. “Ah, my apologies. It was by no means my intention to scare you.”
Sharzad shrugged, waving a hand. “No need to apologise. Besides, I think I was leaning a bit too far over the edge. You had a right to be concerned. If that’s why you’re here.” Straightening her spine, she added, “But I have a feeling it’s not.”
It took three strides for Neuvillette to stand closer to her. Much like Alhaitham, he was at least half a foot taller than her, and so had the physical intimidation factor to his advantage. Sharzad beat this by casually adorning her head with a crown of magnolias and laurel (in reality, she hid a hand behind her back and waved it in order to make this work, because thoughts were never enough).
“Mademoiselle, something has caused a great disturbance to my morning, and I am sure you are aware that you are the root cause.” His eyes, lilac things with white slits rather than round pupils, blazed with power. “Tell me why I sense the mark of a foreign Divinity on you, and why you wield divine power I have never encountered in five hundred years.”
“ Challenge him to a fight, mortal! You can beat him now—he is weakened in this human shape! ”
Nope. Not doing that right now.
Neuvillette’s gaze immediately turned to Deshret. “I am in no mood for a spar right now.”
Sharzad blinked. “You can see him?” she asked at the same time Deshret sneered at Neuvillette.
“Indeed. It’s difficult to miss such a concentration of divine energy.” He turned back to her. “I shall not repeat my question.”
“Let me get your name first, sir,” Sharzad said. “I can’t be expected to spill my entire backstory without knowing who the heck I’m talking to.”
“Whom the heck ,” Nabu Malikata corrected gently, appearing next to Sharzad from wherever she had been moments earlier.
Sharzad rolled her eyes.
“I am the Chief Justice of Fontaine, but you may address me as Neuvillette.”
“Cool. I’m Sharzad.” She held out her hand for Neuvillette to shake.
As he took it and shook, she heard Deshret huff. “ You cannot simply forgo all your other titles like that! ”
“Why? Because you christened me a new one?” Rolling her eyes again, Sharzad let go of Neuvillette’s hand. “ Envoy of the Scorned Gods and all that? I’m not dramatic , Deshret!”
“ Your singing says otherwise. ”
She huffed, making direct eye contact with Neuvillette. “I endured a ton of trauma and this is what I have to deal with. At least his lover is a good friend.”
“ Aww, thank you Sharzad! ” Nabu Malikata exclaimed, wrapping Sharzad in a hug she couldn’t entirely feel. “ Amun will come around once he finally realises he is bound to your soul for as long as you live. ”
Deshret huffed.
At the sight of the confusion in Neuvillette’s eyes, Sharzad explained, “I made deals with them to save my life. I won’t bore you with the details, but the point is I made pacts with them and there’s also a primordial god involved with all of this.” She shrugged. “Revenge scheme or something—I’ve never heard the details, if there are any besides let’s throw an overpowered teenager at the world and witness the chaos .”
Neuvillette was silent for a moment. “Forgive me. This . . . primordial being intended to mark you?”
“Yep. Deal making as a way to amass enough power to kick the asses of the people in charge of Teyvat.” Still looking at Neuvillette, she raised her hand towards the southwest, the vague direction of Celestia. “I’m sure you know what I mean, Your Honor.”
“Hmm. I am surprised this deity would be so bold.”
“They didn’t think it through,” Sharzad replied. “Told me personally last time I died. It was kind of a . . . spur of the moment decision to bring me to Teyvat.”
Neuvillette nodded slowly. “I understand. If you wish to keep your secrets, I will not press you for them.” He paused. “But I must ask—are you here to make a deal with me , Sharzad?”
That was a loaded question. Sharzad definitely wanted to consider a deal in the future. The power of the Hydro Dragon would definitely lend a hand in the future, after all. Yet, she was also aware that it might not be beneficial for her or Neuvillette at the moment. The Hydro Dragon’s power wasn’t fully restored, and Sharzad wasn’t entirely certain that making a deal with him wouldn’t harm him. Besides, gaining Neuvillette’s power before Deshret’s was a surefire way of being stuck with an even crabbier desert king for all eternity.
So, she shook her head. “I’m not looking for more power at the moment, Your Honor. Perhaps when I return to Fontaine in a few years, but right now, these are enough.” Gesturing towards the balcony, she indicated the flowers growing on it as proof. “And I haven’t amended my deal with Deshret yet.”
The king in question scoffed. “ If you ever .”
Sharzad sighed. “One day, when I feel like I’m qualified to be the desert’s queen, I’ll take it. Unless you’re willing to compromise and just say that I’ll take the throne later .” Refocusing on Neuvillette, she held a hand out in front of her and made a few pink and yellow dahlias bloom in her hand to rid herself of some of the energy building under her skin. “I’m in Fontaine for a vacation, not to cause trouble.” She put her hand on her heart and gave a little bow, knowing that Deshret would react negatively to her next statement. “I’m sorry I interrupted your workday, Your Honor. I’m sure you have pressing matters to attend to.”
“You did not interrupt anything of note,” Neuvillette assured her. “There were no trials scheduled for today, and the bulk of my remaining work concerns updates on the Fortress of Meropide.”
“Can’t be fun,” Sharzad mumbled.
Neuvillette, of course, heard her. The corner of his lips tugged upwards in a small, amused smile. “It may seem boring, but clerical work is well within the duties of my post.”
“I’m just sayin’. I’ve seen what my father has to read through and, ugh , I can’t imagine being any higher up than the Scribe in the Akademiya’s system.” Poor Cyno.
“Ah, your father is a scribe?”
“Well, he’s really the Scribe, if you want to be all formal about it.” She laughed. “Though he hates all the formality of everything and does his job just because he wants people to shut up about making him Haravatat’s next Great Sage.”
“I know someone who is . . . remarkably similar when it comes to disregard for official titles,” Neuvillette said, his smile growing wider. “But, unfortunately for Wriothesley, he did his job well enough to warrant the title of Duke.”
Wriothesley. So you have a pretty good connection with him already, don’t you, Neuvillette?
“I fought hard for the title he now has, although much of the work was done on his part while he worked in Meropide.”
“Glad to know at least part of it was on him,” Sharzad trailed her fingers over the balcony, leaving lilac petals in their wake. “ My ‘title’ was graciously gifted to me by the people who tried to sacrifice me. There was no real work done on my part.”
Neuvillette raised an eyebrow, his interest clearly piqued by the statement. “And what title is that, Miss Sharzad? The Envoy of the Scorned Gods as you called yourself earlier?”
Shaking her head, she leaned back slightly, trying to make herself look cool and confident. “No. That’s the title Deshret bestowed upon me after my deal with him. This other title is what the people of Sumeru’s Akademiya know me as.”
“Which is?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat (or maybe it was vomit) as her heart rate suddenly spiked. “The Queen of Vahumana.”
~~~
Dear Yoimiya,
Fontaine was absolutely fabulous! It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen—most of the buildings are made of this pure white stone, and all of the land has this blue undertone, even the grass and trees! They really committed to the aesthetic when building the cities and everything else.
I met my grandmother for the first time, along with my grandfather and my aunt. My uncle Félix should have been there, but he had performances scheduled all over Snezhnaya that week, so he’d been travelling and rehearsing with the orchestra he played with. Honestly, it’s a strange relationship because Astrid and Félix are in their early twenties, so calling them my aunt and uncle kind of feels strange, but that’s how family is, I guess. Grandma is also really nice, although she offered me wine the first time she saw me haha. Thankfully, my grandfather is a little more in touch with what you should and shouldn’t give children, so he’s the one who kept me from more adult topics the entire week.
We also did a bunch of touristy things, like visit some nobles’ mansions and have a beach day. Nothing much happened there, but I did get a Kamera! It’s a cool new invention that allows you to take realistic pictures of the world. I’ve enclosed a few pictures I took of Fontaine’s landscape on the aquabus back to Romaritime Harbor so you can see everything for yourself.
Also, I’m sending you a necklace with a little goldfish charm on it. I thought of you the moment I saw it, so I had to buy it. Plus, it won’t interfere with your work like a bracelet might. Hope you like it!
Yours truly,
Sharzad
Notes:
And so the interludes begin, wooo!! If you haven't noticed yet, this work is officially part of a series: Suite of Stars and Shadows! I've made the decision (for tagging and coherence purposes) to divide Whirling of Leaves and Petals into separate fics, each focusing on a different region/archon quest and the og serving as Sharzad's backstory. As such, once these interlude chapters are posted, we'll officially be on the way to Mondstadt in the as of yet unnamed second fic!
1) Aeval appears, as does the Oratrice Mechanique d'Analyse Cardinalle meme, which I can't believe went viral almost a year ago (I still get flashbacks every time I read its name lmao)
2) Faranak! Considering she left Kaveh on his own at a pretty young age (probably around eleven or twelve at most), I figured she probably isn't fully understanding of what kids should and shouldn't need, so that's how you get someone offering Sharzad wine! Pierre, Felix, and Astrid are all original characters because we know that Faranak remarried at some point but not to whom
3) Fontainian is literally just French, lol
4) Palais Mermonia, and more importantly, NEUVILLETTE, woooooo! It took all my self control not to shove the entire Fontaine cast here since I love them so much, so I decided to put Neuvi here because he *would* sense Sharzad's presence (unlike Furina since she's not actually a god) and because I have Plans for Sharzad's part in the Fontaine Archon Quest
5) We also get a bit of a hint about Sharzad's dislike/full on anxiety about her title (more on that next week)
Hope you enjoyed, as always! :)
Chapter 23: Interlude: Hearts in Harmony
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
QUEST
Hearts in Harmony
Help Alhaitham set up his proposal
“Working on your palace again?”
“You know me. Always working.”
Alhaitham watched Kaveh stick his tongue out as he made notes all across his sketchpad. With his golden hair sticking up in odd places and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, Kaveh looked adorable, and it was moments like these that made it incredibly difficult for Alhaitham to focus on his own work. How could he when he had Kaveh right there? How could he when the urge to distract Kaveh was so strong? How could he when the mere presence of his lover was enough to take over his thoughts and feelings?
Before Kaveh, Alhaitham had not thought of himself as a romantic. Indeed, before Kaveh, Alhaitham hadn’t been one to take his emotions seriously. But that dishevelled scholar he’d run into as a teenaged Haravatat student had somehow marched right into his heart, made his home there, and stubbornly stayed there. Alhaitham was not a romantic before Kaveh, but throughout his Akademiya years and the time after they’d graduated, he had ensured that he kept him close, come up with reasons why they might work on a project, teased him non-stop about outright crushes and creative mistakes and everything in between.
And he had kept Kaveh close to his heart even after their fallout, even after Kaveh completely vanished from his life. He had once been struck by incomprehensible emotion every time he saw a flash of golden hair, a gleam of crimson eyes, a building so beautiful that there was only one person in the world who could have possibly designed it. For two years he had been alone in the house they’d been supposed to share, silently (and sometimes not so silently) pining after his best friend, spending his free time trying to improve himself until the thin academic with overstimulation issues was replaced by someone with enough strength to defeat anyone in a short amount of time. Someone who might be able to get Kaveh back.
Then came Sharzad. Then Cyno arrived at his house with a girl in his arms, something that Kaveh had somehow noticed. Something that drew him right back to Alhaitham and, by some miracle, kept him by Alhaitham’s side until, suddenly, he couldn’t simply move out anymore. Until they’d realigned their habits so much that Alhaitham made Kaveh’s coffee the way he liked it every morning without thinking about it, that Kaveh didn’t have to ask to know what fruits Alhaitham needed from the market, that occasional touches and worrying about health and amused smiles about Sharzad became their every day.
And by some madness, Alhaitham began weaving signals of love into each of those days. More touches to Kaveh’s hands and back. Wrapping his arms around him at night because, unlike most physical touch, this felt natural . Trying to keep Kaveh away from high stress situations because he was already stressed out enough and Alhaitham knew he was trying to avoid going to the tavern for Sharzad’s sake. Resorting to kissing him and confessing his feelings because Kaveh just didn’t get it after six months of the more obvious signs, and Alhaitham was getting impatient.
“Ugh. Alright, I’m going to make dinner.” Kaveh abandoned his sketchpad, heading for the study’s door. “Where did you put the recipes my mother gave us?”
“With the other recipes, near the top of the pile so you can organise them to your heart’s content.”
“ Perfect .”
He delicately closed the door, and once Alhaitham was certain he wouldn’t be coming back soon, he stood and, after stretching his stiff limbs (just how long had he been lost in thought?), wandered towards Kaveh’s half of the room.
The newest incarnation of Kaveh’s palace faced upwards, the exterior plans half-finished and covered with notes about ideas from Zubayr Theatre , ask Tighnari for flower advice , and see who might help stock the library . Alhaitham picked it up and scanned it once, before flipping backwards, until he reached the last non-palace plan, the last one before they left for Fontaine.
The one of their house. The one they’d walked through together, complete with discussions about where they might build it. The one Alhaitham needed right now.
Knowing Kaveh would be distracted by this palace project for the foreseeable future, Alhaitham carefully ripped the house plans from the sketchpad and took them back to his desk. He stared at them for a second, before slipping it into a locked drawer, one that only contained two other things: a deed to a piece of land to the east of Sumeru City, and a ring that desperately needed to be resized.
He had thought about this for so long, but Sharzad’s kidnapping and subsequent recovery period had thrown a wrench in his former plans. And he couldn’t have possibly asked Kaveh in Fontaine, not during a trip that had several other emotional stressors attached (mostly related to his mother).
But now he had Faranak’s explicit blessing. He had everything he could possibly need to figure this out. The house would be built within six months, and then Alhaitham would put his plan into action.
~~~
Stumbling down the hall, Sharzad followed Nabu Malikata towards an empty classroom, holding her hands close to her heaving chest as an attempt to focus on what was real . At least, until she could find a private space to sit inside.
“ Here. ”
Sharzad burst into the small classroom, slamming the door behind her. She sank to her knees, leaning back against the wooden door as her body violently trembled, wracked with sobs and ragged breathing from her increased heart rate. The room spun in front of her eyes, a mess of colours and deep, oppressive quiet .
Then, she was being dragged towards a coffin under the watchful eye of faceless cultists. Her back hit the cold stone, and within moments she was locked in darkness again, locked in a tomb under a massive pyramid, locked in the name of becoming a queen and a god.
I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.
More panic. Hypoxia. Gulnaz. Death in the name of life. Queen of Vahumana. Coffin. Reincarnation. They know. They orchestrated everything. I’m nothing. I’m a failure I’m a failure Imafailure–
“ It’s okay. Breathe. Take your time. ”
A grounding voice. The voice of the Lord of Dreams, of Joy and Happiness. The voice of someone who only knew how to deal with these panic attacks because she had seen these happen hundreds of times over the past year. Because every time Sharzad heard certain phrases, every time she was approached by an Akademiya scholar, she plunged back into the void.
“ You’re still alive. You’re in the Akademiya. Breathe. ”
“Can’t–” she managed to choke out with a sob.
“ One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . . ” came the soothing voice of Nabu Malikata. “ Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .”
And so the sequence repeated, up one way and down the other. Sharzad struggled to ground herself, doing her best to focus on the numbers than on the hurricane battering the inside of her brain. Shaking, she clambered out of the mental abyss she’d been flung into, painstakingly focusing on Nabu Malikata’s counting until it was all that remained, eyes screwed shut so she could pretend not to see the memories manifesting before her.
“ There. It’s okay. ”
Swallowing, she opened her eyes and immediately noticed how the room had been turned into a full rainforest, complete with trees, colourful flowers, and foliage covering the floor and walls. The last of the pink energy was fading from her veins—she could see it withdrawing from her trembling hands.
“ Shit. Not again.”
Therapy was supposed to make this better, not worse.
“ It’s alright, Sharzad. ” Nabu Malikata knelt at her side, hand rubbing her upper arm. “ You’re safe. ”
She swallowed, wincing at the bitter taste in her mouth. “I’ll feel safe when I get back home.” Standing, she held her hands out in front of her. “Once I destroy these plants, obviously.”
Under the watchful eye of the Goddess of Flowers, she willed the flowers into rotting and turning to dust. Once it was done and the light faded from her eyes, Sharzad sighed, wiped the remaining tears from her eyes, and left the room.
Her plan to do some work at the House of Daena had been tragically cut short, and all she wanted to do now was go home and do something mundane. Like sketching or reading over a mug of tea. That much power and emotional . . . everything at once was deeply exhausted and everytime they happened, Sharzad desperately needed a break.
She aggressively avoided making eye contact with everyone who came across her and, once she made it home, slammed the door shut with a massive sigh.
“Sharzad?”
Blinking slowly, she found Alhaitham standing from where he’d been sitting. He looked distinctly ruffled for, well, him , like he’d been worrying about something all day, but whatever had been concerning him was clearly overtaken by concern for her . He walked towards her immediately, checking her for any injuries with a few quick glances. Once he was satisfied by a lack of physical injury, he took a single step back, still watching her carefully.
“Hi, Papa.” She noticed that his headphones and their tubing were absent. They never were absent. “What’s going on?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
She huffed, already prepared to lie. “People being annoying, as usual.” Tilting her head at him, she blinked slowly. “What’s the matter? You look . . . anxious.”
Silence filled the air for a single moment, before Alhaitham took a breath and reached into his pocket, wordlessly dropping whatever he’d picked up into her palm. Eyes wide, she inspected the item: it was a golden ring, carved with diamond patterns made of a dark green stone.
She gaped at it. “What is this?”
QUEST
Hearts in Harmony
Help Alhaitham set up his proposal
It took her a few moments to internalise the context clues and the in your face messaging coming from the System.
“You’re proposing?! ” she shrieked.
Alhaitham snatched the ring back from her palms and tucked it away, shooting her a stern look. “It’s supposed to be a surprise, Sharzad.”
“Fuck. Sorry.” She lowered her voice, maintaining the same intensity a yell might have. “ You’re proposing?! When?”
“Tonight.”
A whine escaped her throat before she could stop it. “And you didn’t tell me?! ”
“ Sharzad .”
It took two seconds of eye contact with her father to notice just how flustered and nervous he really was. She could just barely pick out the slight shake to his voice, noticing the flush to his face and the widening of his eyes in the process.
Oh. You’re worried he’ll say no. Not that Kaveh would—he’d definitely say yes no matter how or when Alhaitham asked—but it didn’t matter since Alhaitham had a right to worry, anyway. “Do you need help with setting something up? Or—how about pictures? I can get my Kamera and capture the moment!”
Alhaitham took a shaking breath. “That would be perfect.”
~~~
Kaveh returned from the Palace of Alcazarzaray site earlier than expected, and so he didn’t think that dinner would be ready when he arrived.
The team of engineers and workers dedicated to the project had been making splendid progress on the building’s main portion, and today was the day they laid the last of the first floor’s stone. Now, the only thing to do was build up and fill in the rest of the wooden frame. Kaveh estimated that it would take another eighteen months for the project to be complete, but once it was done, he was certain it would be the pride of Sumeru.
So, having left the site earlier than usual, Kaveh wasn’t expecting to find Alhaitham more than halfway through making fatteh and roast lamb. He’d dropped Mehrak off in his charging port before walking into the kitchen, following the smell of cooking meat to his boyfriend.
Alhaitham greeted him with a soft kiss, taking care not to touch him so the grease from the meat wouldn’t stain Kaveh’s clothes. “It’ll be ready soon, dearest. Go wash up—you have dirt on your nose.”
“You don’t care about dirt on my nose.”
“Dirt on your nose means dirt on your hands, which is unsanitary. Go wash.”
Kaveh rolled his eyes, but agreed nonetheless, withdrawing to the bathroom for a few minutes in order to wipe the grime from his face, neck, and hands with a towel. Once he’d brushed his hair (which was sticking up all over the place the moment he took it out of its plait, ugh ), he decided to go find Sharzad, reasoning that dinner would be ready soon and it would be best to grab her.
He found her brandishing a bronze dagger with a blade slightly shorter than forearm, moving it in an upward slashing motion, before darting backwards and doing it again.
“Hi Dad!” she exclaimed breathlessly, not slowing down her movements or stopping. “How’s Alcazarzaray?”
“Good. We finished laying the stonework for the first floor today.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “What are you doing? Dinner’s about to be ready.”
“Oh, really?” she stopped moving, casually flinging the knife onto her bed like it wasn’t, you know, a knife . “Great!”
She was clearly determined to ignore his question about the knife, continuing to do so even when Kaveh tried to get Alhaitham to help him out.
“She’s training. That’s all that matters.”
“ Traitor ,” Kaveh mumbled under his breath. He raised his voice. “It’s a knife! ”
“I’ve done many more dangerous things!” Sharzad exclaimed, as if that was an adequate defence.
If I had my way, you’d stay here, safe and sound, for the rest of your life. The mausoleum was enough. Actually, everything related to Sharzad reincarnating and suffering thinking she had to keep it a secret forever was enough. She didn’t deserve to be in pain, nor did she deserve to go gallivanting into danger like it was fine and normal .
“Dangerous things I wish you hadn’t ever gone and done,” Kaveh said. “I think your father –” he shot a pointed look at Alhaitham. “–can agree on that one.”
Alhaitham only hummed and offered Kaveh another serving of fatteh.
They spent the rest of dinner in amicable conversation, a routine occurrence for them these days, as between philosophical debates, Akademiya gossip, and more domestic family conversations, they rarely had nothing to talk about. Once they’d finished, Alhaitham stood and suggested they take a walk.
Kaveh didn’t understand the unusual offer, nor did he understand why Sharzad grinned like a madwoman at the announcement and went to fetch her Kamera (well, the grins and the Kamera were normal, but not usually with the prospect of a walk, which was why it was suspicious). Her energy almost vibrated its way out of her body as they walked out of the city’s southern gate. They followed the road outside the city northward, towards a plot of land Kaveh last remembered as being under construction. He’d passed it a few times in the recent months, as construction work for the palace had begun further north and Kaveh had been making almost daily trips to the site in order to watch his project come to life.
This particular plot had caught his attention, having once been an expanse of meadow Kaveh considered for the house he wanted to build, but he’d become too engrossed in the palace project to buy the land. Clearly, someone else had noticed it and decided to buy it instead. What a shame.
Now, the piece of land played host to a two-story house, its garden filled with flowers of all kinds, from Sumeru roses and padisarahs, to silk flowers and dendrobium. He could see a small terrace extending from the back, forming a porch overlooking Chinvat Ravine and even parts of Gandharva Ville that could be seen through the thick covering of trees.
The design was familiar to him, the placement of the windows and decorations as if he’d once seen it in a dream. Perhaps it was simply because the design followed many of Kaveh’s own design philosophies, as if the architect who created this house had studied his previous work. It was a beautiful place, truly, one that he suddenly wished he’d had the chance to design and live in.
He barely resisted a sigh. Too bad someone else got there first.
The jingle of something metallic caught his attention. He turned his head from the house to Alhaitham, finding him holding out a set of keys to him, complete with a little lion charm like the one on Kaveh’s . . . wait.
When did he get my keys? Kaveh took them, staring at his boyfriend in confusion. “Haitham?”
The setting sun cast golden light across Alhaitham’s tanned face, reflecting off his eyes in a way that sparkled. “You were so busy with building the palace that you neglected the project that took up the most of your time before our trip to Fontaine.” He gestured at the house with a hand. “So, I took the liberty of having it built for you.”
Blinking rapidly, Kaveh did his best to process this. Unfortunately, the only thing he could remember how to say was, “What?”
A warm hand grabbed his, giving it a squeeze. “I built your house, Kaveh.” Alhaitham leaned in to whisper in his ear, soft and low. “ Our house.”
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
His face was probably bright red now, even more so when he threw himself into Alhaitham’s arms. The taller man caught him immediately, supporting him enough that Kaveh had no fear of pulling Alhaitham into a long, slow kiss. He tried to transfer as much as he could into the gesture, trying to say I love you I love you I love you and thank you for this wonderful gift at the same time.
Withdrawing once they reached the point they needed air, he made sure to stay close, pressing his forehead to Alhaitham’s. “Thank you,” he breathed.
Somewhere next to them came the click of a Kamera shutter. Kaveh dropped out of Alhaitham’s grip like a stone, searching for the source of the noise.
Sharzad smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry. Did I ruin the moment?”
“Not at all,” Kaveh said, despite feeling the exact opposite.
His daughter smiled mischievously at him. “Liar.” Bouncing on her toes, she turned towards the house. “Come on, I want to see inside!”
Kaveh turned towards Alhaitham, exchanging huffs of laughter and amused glances at their daughter’s excitement. His boyfriend then took Kaveh’s hand in his and brought him towards the house.
Once they were inside, Alhaitham took them on a tour of the building, pausing at intervals to show off the two floors of bookshelves for a library worthy of Fontaine’s noble houses, the kitchen laid out exactly in the way Kaveh and Alhaitham liked, and the master bedroom placed on the eastern side of the house so they could watch the glorious sunrise over the Chasm Mountains.
And then he led Kaveh to the terrace overlooking Chinvat Ravine, where they could gaze at the view of the river below, and of all the bright green trees covering the landscape.
“You chose a wonderful spot to build it,” he told Alhaitham as he watched two birds take flight together. “The view is beautiful.”
“Technically, it’s your choice.” Alhaitham’s breath ghosted over Kaveh’s neck as he leaned in. “You were so attached to this area when we were first considering where to build. No other place would have been as perfect as this one.”
“You’re the one who decided to finally build it. Meaning it was ultimately your choice.”
“Yeah?”
Kaveh turned: Alhaitham’s voice wasn’t normally lower than him.
What he found was his lover on one knee, holding a bouquet of his favourite flowers in one hand and a small box in the other. The sweet smell of padisarahs and mourning flowers filled the air as Alhaitham made direct eye contact with him.
“Kaveh.”
Oh , did that single utterance of his name send his heart into flips. Alhaitham gazed at him, turquoise and orange eyes filled with more love and tenderness than Kaveh had ever thought they could contain, face relaxed and open in a way that never seemed possible for his Alhaitham, even when it was just the two of them in bed.
“Kaveh,” Alhaitham repeated, as if he was trying to steady his nerves rather than catch Kaveh’s attention. The flowers in his hand trembled slightly, a few petals falling to the floor from the movement.
“Yeah?” Kaveh asked, hearing how his own voice quivered in anticipation.
Is this really happening?
Was Alhaitham—Mister I’m not one for big emotional gestures , soft-touches, subtle smiles, and casual gestures—proposing with a gift of a house alongside it? It was something out of a dream, the opposite kind of romance Kaveh expected from Alhaitham, despite his own reactions to sweet, grand proposals. Alhaitham would have suggested it over dinner, on a walk, while making dinner . . . something casual. Simple. Subtle.
Yet here he was, down on one knee in a house he had built for Kaveh, holding a bouquet of Kaveh’s favourite flowers, clearly mentally rehearsing a speech he’d prepared. A speech he probably spent months working on, just to get it right, because when Alhaitham was dedicated to something, he always made sure it was perfect.
Alhaitham made sure to look at him before beginning to speak. “I can speak twenty-nine languages, Kaveh, and yet I can never seem to string the right words together to tell you just how much I adore you.” After pausing for a shaky breath, he continued. “From the day we ran into each other at the House of Daena, you have been my best friend, my most ardent debater, and my partner . I didn’t believe in romance or love before I met you, and yet now I find myself on my knees, asking a question I never thought I would ask anyone but the stubborn and passionate golden-haired scholar I met at the Akademiya.” Slowly, he opened the box, revealing a golden ring covered in diamond patterns made of deep green stone. He held it up towards Kaveh. “So, mon coeur , zhizn moya , qīn ài de . . . my Kaveh. Will you marry me?”
That single moment stretched out into a thousand. It took every bit of Kaveh’s willpower to hold his brain together as he tried to process the sheer wave of emotion that came crashing into him. He sniffled softly, immediately feeling a flash of annoyance at himself for being so damn emotional about this. Crying? At his proposal?!
The smell of padisarahs and mourning flowers became stronger. A soft, warm hand gently brushed the tears from under his eyes without even a moment’s hesitation, and Kaveh did his best to blink the blurriness from his gaze so he could look at Alhaitham.
His gaze was soft. A little teasing, knowing smile graced his features, no doubt because he’d noticed the smile on Kaveh’s face, because he knew that the tears were for happiness, for joy, not for anything else.
Yet he still drew his hand back and pulled the ring box out again, holding it out to Kaveh. “So? Am I going to get an answer, senior, or would you have left me kneeling on the floor until tomorrow morning?”
“It’s a lot to process, in case you didn’t realise!” Kaveh retorted without a moment’s hesitation. “You proposed to me with a house! ”
“A house you designed and would have built anyway.”
“A. House!” He punctuated each word with a clap before throwing his hands in the air. “Nobody proposes with a house!”
“Would your palace have been more satisfactory?” The little bow he gave was nothing short of mocking. “Perhaps I should have had it built instead, my king.”
For the second time in less than an hour, Kaveh launched himself at Alhaitham, only this time, he managed to send them both tumbling to the floor. Petals cascaded around them, ripped from the bouquet, which rolled to the ground next to Alhaitham, scattering flowers everywhere.
“Of course I’ll marry you, Alhaitham Taftazani. What sort of idiot do you take me for?”
His fiance (oh, that was a word that felt wonderful, even just in his mind) reached up and pulled him close, pressing their foreheads together. “ My idiot.”
~~~
Sharzad was honestly quite astonished at the speed they moved into the new house.
Like, ten days after she found out it existed, all their things had been packed up and moved into the new place, where she found herself staring at the ceiling of her new room, a space with ample shelves for books, several newly purchased pieces of antique or imported furniture ( what the fuck, Papa , Sharzad told Alhaitham when she found out about her desk being an import from Liyue designed with hidden compartments everywhere), and a wall covered in maps that she planned to eventually replace with a massive hand-painted map of Teyvat. Because drama and aesthetics or whatever.
Oh, and she had her own bathroom, finally, which was fantastic.
But, good things aside, it was still weird to move in, because honestly, she wasn’t used to living in such a large dwelling (not that the new house was massive , but it was still at least twice as big as the old house). She wasn’t used to the wedding planning. She wasn’t used to taking longer to get to the Akademiya, to the point where she was considering teleportation as her mode of transport with the excuse of weird god powers to explain away the teleporting.
She did not do this, in the end, instead deciding that it would be best to stay at home instead of travelling to the Akademiya everyday (less chances for panic attacks, wooo ).
Alhaitham, through his position as the Akademiya’s Scribe, fast-tracked the documentation to officially put the old house back into the Akademiya’s hands, although Kaveh and Alhaitham both wanted Sharzad to take it instead. She told them to leave it to scholars who needed it, and do the same with Kaveh’s family home, which he still owned but hadn’t lived in since Sharzad arrived. For some reason partially taking her advice, Kaveh decided to rent out the house, telling her that she would take it when she moved out (not that he wanted her to move out in the first place, nor did she want to stay in Sumeru, but it was the thought that counted).
So while Kaveh and Alhaitham planned their very small wedding (and very long and well-deserved honeymoon), Sharzad continued her research about Nabu Malikata and slowly, her second thesis took its first, skeletal form alongside several nuggets of information she wanted to synthesise into smaller, more digestible papers.
“ Why are you nervous, mortal? This isn’t your wedding. ”
“Will you ever call me by my name, Deshret?” she grumbled as she fretted with her top, a vibrant shade of turquoise, supposedly meant to match the subtleties of her fathers’ clothing.
But, since Kaveh was wearing white, and Alhaitham a dark shade of turquoise just light enough that it couldn’t be called black, Sharzad was going to look like a bird of paradise next to them. Especially with the flower crown in her hair, which only worked with everything else if she made the majority of the flowers a light gold colour and the rest of them a bluish-turquoise.
The flower crown had become her signature, after all, and though she hated the title that came with it, at least the crown was a) cute and b) customisable so she could look intimidating if she wanted by growing spiky thorns into it like some sort of Persephone.
“ I will not answer that question. ”
“Are you finally warming up to me? It’s only been a year since we made the deal, you know.”
“ A deal I regret every day you give me a migraine. ”
“You’re a ghost, you don’t get migraines.”
“ You would think so ,” Deshret sighed, before returning to judging her attire. “ Armour would suit you more. Preferably more suited to your title which, I will remind you, I do not agree with given you continue to shirk your duties. ”
“I’m not the desert’s queen, nor do I want to be. That was given to me by psychopaths who thought killing me would resurrect you .” She adjusted her skirt and admired the complete lehenga choli, a more formal version of what she wore everyday, with a much heavier and longer skirt than anything she’d worn before. “But unfortunately, as you’ve made a point to tell me every time you see me , I have a reputation to uphold.” She drew a hand across the crown, hiding it from her reflection in the mirror for a few seconds until she adjusted the flowers. “The crown stays, Deshret, but I will not be wearing armour, especially since the only armour I have access to is your stuff that’s firstly way too big for me and secondly two thousand years old .”
“ I think his armour would look splendid on you if we made the necessary modifications, ” Nabu Malikata commented. “ To fit your body more than his bulk– ”
“ Nabu Malikata, do not take her side. ”
The goddess tapped her lover’s nose. “ Too late! ”
~~~
The wedding was beautiful. Even Alhaitham could acknowledge it (and he did acknowledge it, several times).
Between Sharzad’s dramatic flower arrangements, the perfect weather, and Kaveh nearly sobbing his way through his vows (Alhaitham also shed a few tears, not that he’d admit it to anyone but Kaveh, who somehow managed to spot them amidst his own tears of joy), the eventful ceremony itself made a clear mark on the long-lasting wedding celebrations.
Though all of their invited guests came to the weeklong sequence of rituals, drinking games, and dances meant to bless the newlyweds, the overall celebrations were quite small. It made sense: Alhaitham and Kaveh had only invited a handful of friends and family, including Faranak, who came with Pierre, Astrid, and Félix; Cyno and Tighnari; Faruzan; and, of course, Sharzad, who quickly insisted that they add Alhaitham’s surname to her name because ‘ it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t, Papa’ .
Alhaitham blamed the sheer emotion that flooded his face at that particular declaration on arak. Nevermind that he hadn’t had a drink since the day before and that he’d only gotten deeply drunk the day before because he and Kaveh were subjected to a traditional drinking game where each groom took a shot of arak for every question about their partner he answered correctly.
So, after a beautiful wedding and an impromptu trip to the Akademiya in order to officially change Sharzad’s name, Kaveh and Alhaitham left for Natlan, where they would spend nearly a month visiting its diverse landscape. In the meantime, Sharzad would stay with Tighnari in Gandharva Ville, because Kaveh and Alhaitham didn’t trust her alone in the house. Mentally older or not, she was still a teenager, and a teenager living alone in their house could (and would) cause total chaos.
Sharzad grumbled at them when they told her, but she still travelled to Gandharva Ville with them and set up her stuff in an empty Forest Ranger hut. They said goodbye, and then Kaveh and Alhaitham turned around and spent the day travelling towards Caravan Ribat. It would take a fully equipped, three-day trip to make it across the desert and into Natlan.
This journey was quite long, but the knowledge that hot springs awaited them at the end of their near-week’s trek from Sumeru City to the land of the Meztli, the People of the Springs, kept them pressing forward. But for Kaveh, simply falling asleep in a tent under the stars was enough to make the journey worth it, especially when he had his husband ( his husband!! ) next to him. Especially when he could twist the rings around his index finger and perfectly recall the moments Alhaitham put them on him.
The hot springs themselves were lovely, colourful buildings built around large, cerulean lagoons from which steam rose. After their exhausting trip to get there in the first place, Kaveh and Alhaitham were both ready to relax in the waters of the springs and wander the shops in the surrounding areas (mostly in an attempt to find something Sharzad might like and decorations for the new house, because the stairway seriously needed some colour in Kaveh’s opinion).
It pained him to remove his wedding and engagement rings, but he had to in order to bathe in the hot springs and relax with his husband. His husband Alhaitham, who looked like a god when surrounded by the steam from the artificial hot spring they had to bathe in first, all taut muscle and face so perfectly sculpted that Kaveh could never find a sculptor skilled enough to replicate him in marble (and ooh boy did he want to. Maybe he should just take matters into his own hands and make a painting to hang somewhere in the house).
His husband Alhaitham, with whom he spent the whole day with, until evening came and they took a blanket and some food to a relatively close hill for a lovely view of the setting sun.
“I can’t believe I married you,” Kaveh sighed at one point, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over them.
Alhaitham swirled his spoon in his cup of grainfruit and flower nectar. “Was it not expected, dearest?”
Scoffing, Kaveh shook his head. “If you told me four and a half years ago that I would be married to you, I would have called you delusional without quest–mphhh!”
To shut him up, Alhaitham had resorted to the tried and true method of kissing him senseless. Only this kiss was tender, gentle in a way that that type of kiss never was. Bickering riled them up in the best way, and their more heated arguments had a tendency to devolve into aggressive making out, and then sex.
But this kiss—this kiss was tender, an affirmation of I love you, I love you, I love you for all your flaws, for your three-in-the-morning crafts projects, for your obsession with aesthetics even though I don’t agree with it, for all you have done for me and all you will ever do. It was the kind of kiss that sent fireworks exploding in Kaveh’s brain, the kind that felt like flying and drowning all at once, the kind that ripped the breath from his lungs because even now he couldn’t wrap his brain around the fact that Alhaitham cared , that Alhaitham made the conscious choice to commit to raising a child with him, that Alhaitham loved him, that Alhaitham married him .
And as his Alhaitham withdrew, the sun’s last glowing rays hit his face and hair in a way that made him look divine . His grey hair, once a source of teasing from Akademiya seniors twice his age, shone from the orange-red light of the sun, which also happened to make the teal colour of his eyes all that much brighter. Kaveh wanted to immortalise that shade of blue in a painting, in a jewel, in clothing.
He wanted to be able to gaze at those eyes, that face, that perfect being for the rest of his life, stuck in that moment of pure marital bliss.
Notes:
Woof, lots of author's notes this chapter lmao. Figures, since it's a really long chapter, so I might as well get right into it:
1) Just one instance of real Sharzad stuff this chapter (aka the panic attack). Considering the amount of trauma she went through, it makes perfect sense (to me, at least) that less than a year's worth of therapy would be enough to help her deal with her trauma. She's probably got a lot more to deal with in the future, too
2) Since Dori isn't funding Alcazarzaray this time around, Kaveh has a lot more freedom to build it, so it's becoming less of a massive home and more of a center for the arts and studying for Sumeru's people. Archons knows they need it
3) Ah, the proposal! I struggled a little to write it, but we got there in the end! The things Alhaitham calls Kaveh are: mon coeur (French/Fontainian for "my heart"), zhizn moya (Russian/Snzehnayan for "my life"), and qīn ài de (Mandarin Chinese/Liyuean term of endearment kind of like "my darling").
4) Alhaitham last name reveal! I realised while I was writing last week that he still didn't have a last name, so I figured I might fix that. Al-Taftazani (whose full name is much longer than that) was a Muslim Persian polymath who wrote on grammar, rhetoric, and logic among other things. I thought it made sense for his character.
5) Since Sumeru takes inspiration from India, I thought it would be interesting for them to have traditionally long wedding festivities. Now, since Hindu traditions vary by region, I created a few of my own ideas for ceremonies, including the drinking game mentioned a little later on. Arak, the alcohol used, is a Levantine drink made from grapes and anise seeds.
6) Natlan appears! The hot springs felt like a good honeymoon spot, and besides, Alhaitham and Kaveh deserve a break
And one last thing: I really wanted to write the actual wedding scene, but unfortunately this chapter was long enough, so I decided against it. The wedding, along with other bonus scenes, like the earlier stages of Kaveh and Alhaitham's relationship, alternative POVs to events (like Neuvillette meeting Sharzad), and extended scenes will be eventually posted in a little bonus fic with shorter, oneshot-style chapters.
Hope you enjoyed! :)