"’They?’"
Oh, Archons… was he being dragged to some odd potluck? A grimace spreads before he can catch himself, but he plays along all the same.
Sighing, he takes the spot beside the other, hands settling in his lap. Ugh.
"I’m not very hungry. Waiting isn’t an issue, really…”
𝙕𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙠
"Come on, nobody will notice if there's a bit less in the pot. Our friends bring each a dish of their own so there's always leftovers."
Funnily enough, he was alone at the table at the moment.
"They'll take a while. Sit. Eat something, please."
Pats the empty seat beside him.
𝑨𝑳𝑯𝑨𝑰𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑴.
The momentary eye contact makes his skin crawl, avoidant gaze trailing to the documents.
… When was the last time he ate? He hadn’t thought about it in some time, but he didn’t 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 hungry.
"Ah, I wouldn’t want to intrude— I can get something down at the markets… But thank you."
𝙕𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙠
"Kaveh made it. Says it's his mother's recipe. Nothing much I can do to stop him once he's started."
Alhaitham's eyes stop for a few seconds on the boy's, then blinks and gazes away, back to the document he's redacting.
"Of course I didn't think you died. Welcome back."
𝑨𝑳𝑯𝑨𝑰𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑴.
"… You thought I died?"
Says the boy who disappeared for… a while. But in his defense—a round trip to the nation’s edge is difficult!
Staring down the other, a small crease in his brow.
“I thought you didn’t like stew…”
𝙕𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙠
"Oh, you are alive."
Passes a page of his book.
"There's stew in the pot, if you are hungry."
