the burden of the scribe

Chapter 2

You work and you work and you work, staring at the pages until the letters fly off the page and spin around in circles around your eyes. You labor and labor and labor, until you can't feel your fingers and your body is numb. You are forever entrapped upon layer upon layer of papers. 

What's the point? You can't do this anymore.

—

"Grand Sage Alhaitham!"

Alhaitham turned around slowly. Coldly, he asked, "What?"

The scholar, either dumb or uncaring, pressed on and continued to annoy Alhaitham. Alhaitham guessed the latter, as the former wasn't likely, considering the fact that he was a graduate of the Akademiya. But...then again, given Azar's questionable hiring policies, it wouldn't surprise Alhaitham if the scholar's thesis statement had barely allowed him to graduate.

"About the funding for Spantamad, the ley lines have been acting up recently, so could you approve—"

"My working hours are listed outside my office," Alhaitham interrupted tersely. "Contact me then."

The Spantamad Scholar whined angrily, "But Grand Sage—"

"Acting Grand Sage Alhaitham. My position is nothing else if temporary. If you wish to raise a complaint about my working hours, please take it up with Lesser Lord Kusanali. She can be found in the Sanctuary of Surasthana." 

Alhaitham turned back around and walked away swiftly, hand in pocket, ready to pull out his keys, when the scholar suddenly grabbed him.

"Alhaitham, even if you're only temporary, at least do your job correctly! You lead the six darshans of the Akademiya now. It's such a struggle without the Akasha Terminal! If we can handle the extra hours, so can you. I waited outside your house for an hour just to tell you that, you know. So you better do something about this...this mess."

Alhaitham had never really cared much about what anyone else thought of him. What others thought of him never affected his studies or his work, so why should he? But...seeing the scholar openly dismiss his painstaking efforts made him want to sit on the hard ground and internally scream. Perhaps it was the "Kaveh effect". But whatever the reason, the Spantamad scholar—the one lecturing him about extra hours—had no idea how many stacks of paperwork Alhaitham had to deal with in his office and at his desk at his house. Why couldn't anyone see he hadn't asked for this? He enjoyed his cushy life as the Scribe, free to pursue his own questions with unlimited access to knowledge and physical, handheld books! He didn't want to be Acting Grand Sage Alhaitham, he wanted to be Scribe Alhaitham—

The man's grip on his arm tightened, and Alhaitham was brought back to reality. He grit his teeth.

With dark eyes that could scare off even the creatures of the deepest depths of the abyss, he grounded out, "Don't touch me."

The scholar paled but stayed still where he was defiantly, and Alhaitham used a short burst of Dendro to send himself behind the man with the usage of his mirrors and swiftly kicked him in the back.

He heard the sound of slow clapping behind him.

"Cyno," he addressed without turning around.

Cyno hummed in response. "A feeble scholar—I believe that is what you said back then? I Cy-pose I was right when I said you were stronger than you said you were!"

There was an awkward moment of silence.

"...Send Tighnari my condolences."

Cyno grabbed the man on the floor by the collar and held his hands behind his back.

"Oh, come on. My jokes aren't that bad, as far as Cy-know."

"..." Alhaitham moved on. "You can put this man under the charge of assault."

"Oh?" Cyno asked. "Are you really so sure I won't charge you for assault? That was quite the kick. He's definitely going to have to receive medical treatment from the Bimarstan."

"It was self-defense," Alhaitham stated. "You may be my witness. Besides, treatment at the Bimarstan is free, so it's not like it matters."

"As meticulous as ever. I'm sure you thought it carefully through before kicking him, knowing you. Hm. I suppose I'll be your witness, then. Well anyway, now that I've finally found you—Lesser Lord Kusanali wanted to see you."

Alhaitham reflexively checked the time. It was already well past 7:00pm, when Kaveh was due back. "Now?"

Cyno shrugged. "She said to drop by whenever you were available. Anyways, Tighnari said to tell you that dinner was on him tomorrow. Are you in?"

"...Is Kaveh going to be there?"

"Of course. But don't let that stop you from coming. Tighnari told me he was going to cook your favorite," he leaned in and gave a tiny smile—one that was almost unnoticeable for those who didn't know him well. "Sabz Meat Stew."

Alhaitham tilted his head to the side and considered it. "Alright," he agreed, albeit with slight suspicion. "What's the occasion?"

Cyno stared at him with eyes a little bit too knowing for his taste, and said, "You'll see tomorrow night." With that, he took off with the Spantamad scholar in tow. And if Cyno made no effort to keep the scholar off the floor, scraping him along the way, well, who was Alhaitham to judge?  It was probably just because he hated such blatant and open rule-breaking.