The Smell of Old Books and Blood

Chapter 18: Aching

Tighnari wasn't surprised with where he found his Mother. With every home they moved to, Faranak had always set up and office filled with her late husband's stuff. Kaveh said everything was in the exact place he always left it. They'd always find her in there on hard days. She'd ask to be left alone, and they always would. It was her safe place. Like usual, she was sitting on the office chair, a faded Dendro Vision in her hands, muttering something. He assumed it was a prayer. Her eyes flickered over to Tighnari, teary, before going back to the vision in her hands.

Tighnari approached her slowly, resting a hand on her shoulder, "You miss him today?"

She nodded, running her thumb over the vision, "I miss him every day. When we were young, he would always say that we had all the time in the world to love each other. But we didn't. If I knew, I would've cherished our time together more. I would've gone on his expeditions with him and brought Kaveh with us. I'd spend every last second with him. But it's too late now. I love him so much. And it pains me that he didn't get to watch Kaveh grow up. He was such a good father. He loved Kaveh so much. It hurt so bad when Kaveh would say he hated him for abandoning us. He gave up his life to protect us." Faranak sniffled and used her arm to wipe her tears away. "That was the only good thing about losing him. Well, that, and you. You're a blessing. I love you just as much as Kaveh. You're my son."

Tighnari couldn't help but smile at the last part, pulling his Mother into a hug, "I love you too. But you gotta tell me what's going on. I just want to help. You're obviously distressed about Alhaitham. And I know it's not because he's human."

"I never told you how my husband died. I haven't even told Kaveh. Promise me you won't tell him?"

"I won't," Tighnari easily agreed, "I promise. It's your story to tell. Not mine."

"He was just... so handsome," Faranak laughed, Tighnari doing the same, "He was handsome, and kind, and smart, and so hardworking. We were very quiet people. We had to. Constant witch hunts forced us to keep to ourselves. No one knew that he was my husband and no one knew I was married. It was best for us to not be connected to each other just in case anything ever happened. And because of that, many women tried to woo him. He was faithful to me though. He'd tell me everything and constantly reassure me that I was the only one for him. I always loved that he was great at communicating.

"A particular woman wouldn't take no for an answer. One of his coworkers who would constantly go on expeditions with him. She was a Kshahrewar scholar. What was her name... Fatima. She'd constantly flirt with him and when he would deny her she'd get angry. Entitled bitch she was. My husband was a kind soul though. He'd push her away but never in an aggressive sense. Until one day, he snapped. He threatened to report her for harassment. It was in the middle of one of their expeditions to Fontaine. I guess she just began to hate him. She was spiteful.

"Turns out, she was already married with a kid. Reporting her would out her attempts of an affair and ruin her life. He promised not to as long as she never bothered him again.

"Well, while they were at Fontaine, the group had a few drinks. She had a few too many and had separated from the group. Knowing they were in an unknown place and around strangers, he stepped outside to find her. He heard noises by a not too far alleyway and found her with a man that was... trying to take advantage of her. Before my husband, I was engaged and the man would do very similar to me. So he immediately went to protect her. He didn't like the woman, but he wouldn't allow her to get hurt like that. Turns out that man was also a vampire and things got a bit heated enough that she found out about both of them. She threatened to tell everyone in Sumeru about it if he didn't indulge in her affair. And he said no. He could've told her he was married and that might have stopped her. But he said to me that it wasn't worth it. That she didn't care for the sanctity of marriage and it would've only put us in danger. But maybe she wouldn't say anything if she knew. She had a kid too. Maybe she'd understand.