Author's notes: Thank you for the reviews for the first chapter, I have see my name mentioned once, Aquajogger, and was very flattered. And there are not enough Kai-stern adorers, Animegoil, so I hope you take whatever inspiration that last sentence possibly gave you and run with it! Big thanks also to RP – lots more to come in the next few days! The story is going to be 12 chapters, unless I decide to add a couple more in various places where I find the story comes across as slightly too rushed. This particular chapter I had a lot of fun with, and in a way it is in part what this entire story is about – exploring aspects of the two characters that don't often get looked at. As always, all comments are very much welcomed.
This chapter takes place a couple of weeks after the previous chapter.
Kiss: Good Night.
Kai-stern had never liked working by candlelight. His vision had been poor since birth, robbed almost completely away from him by the same childhood illness that had stripped all colour from his skin and hair and marked him out from an early age as someone different and unusual. Few survived the initial stages of the disease, and sometimes it was considered more of a curse to live beyond those first few, painful months. Humans so unnaturally fair were either ostracized or considered unique, and neither option was all that welcoming. Either you were a pariah, or you were a pet.
Kai-stern had been both, back before he'd come to Draqueen. The immortality that had been gifted to him had cleared up most of the health problems that the disease had inflicted on him, but his eyesight had been too far tattered to return fully. The flickering, inconsistent flames from the candles placed strain on his eyes, making long periods spent hunched over paperwork first uncomfortable, and then painful. Words blurred and headaches set in, and the world took on a hazed look that Kai-stern couldn't quite see through.
It was just one more weakness to add to a list that was already overly long.
His desk in his office was shoved right underneath a large window, and during the day it was fine. Not perfect, but enough constant, base light flowed into the room to make it certainly livable. But day had leaked into early evening, and by the time he was almost through with his reports the candles that were scattered around the room had almost completely burnt down.
'Damn Alfeegi and his stupid reports,' Kai-stern thought tiredly as he removed his glasses, rubbing his strained eyes. His headache wasn't all that bad, but even with his glasses on everything was at best a blur. If only Alfeegi didn't expect the smallest of details to be recorded in the most complicated fashion, Kai-stern could have finished the report hours ago. As it was he was still going to have to spend at least an hour on it in the morning.
Normally Alfeegi wasn't quite this bad, Kai-stern allowed. But whenever Ruwalk went through one of his stages where he was madly in love and so completely and utterly the happiest he had ever, ever been, Alfeegi always seemed to fall apart just slightly at the seams. It didn't seem to occur to Alfeegi that Ruwalk fell into mad, obsessive love at least three times a year, although perhaps that was really part of the problem. Of all the times Ruwalk had fallen in love, it had never once been with Alfeegi.
And Alfeegi loved Ruwalk more than anything, even though Ruwalk had no idea about the other's devotion.
Sometimes, Kai-stern felt just a little bit bitter about it all. Because, if Alfeegi was just to look, then perhaps he would see that there was a world beyond Ruwalk, and that there were other people who would be more than willing to become involved with him in some manner.
Alfeegi was kind and smart, and often rather amusing – as well as having a tendency to be kind of cute when he was at his most annoyed. Only a fool wouldn't be interested in Alfeegi.
And Ruwalk was the worst kind of fool.
There was no way Kai-stern was going to be able to make it back to his room tonight, not without running the risk of someone seeing him in his less than stellar condition. Besides, it wasn't as though his desk was all that uncomfortable to rest his head on for a few hours, or at least it wouldn't be if he used his jacket as a pillow …
"What are you doing sleeping in your office! It's almost three in the morning!"
Well. The hour and a half in which he had managed to snatch some sleep had been nice, and at least Kai-stern could decipher the form glaring down at him instead of simply seeing an Alfeegi-shaped blur.
"You answered your own question, Alfeegi. I was sleeping," he grumbled as he slid his glasses on, noting with a vague sense of detachment the way Alfeegi became more solid, even as the room itself remained only partially in focus. "What are you doing up? It's almost three in the morning." Alfeegi's eyes narrowed at the slightly mocking tone.
"I have been working," there was just a hint of self-entitlement in Alfeegi's tone. "I was just dropping off these reports before I headed to bed, but since you are still up you can sign your ones off now." Alfeegi waved the papers in front of him. Kai-stern looked at them wearily, before taking them from Alfeegi.
"I'll have them back to you in the morning."
"It will only take you a couple of minutes to look them over and sign, I can wait."
With a slight grimace, Kai-stern glanced down at the papers. For a moment, the words seemed to hold their form, but he had only managed a couple of lines before they turned more into unreadable scribbles and his headache threatened to return.
Damn Alfeegi.
Kai-stern knew he could have just signed the papers, but while occasionally others (Alfeegi) would berate him for his unprofessional nature (Alfeegi) and far too laid back attitude (Alfeegi), he did in fact take his work seriously.
"I'll have it back to you in the morning, Alfeegi."
"Oh, I'm sure." The words were almost biting. "Maybe you'll have them back to me in the morning, or maybe you'll have it back to me in the afternoon. You might – if I'm lucky – return them to me tomorrow morning or afternoon, but there's more of a chance that I'll have to wait several days. Believe it or not, Kai-stern, I happen to work as well, and every time I have to wait on just a single piece of paperwork it throws the entire process out and puts me days behind schedule." Kai-stern couldn't deal with this, not at the moment. But Alfeegi was obviously annoyed, and while Kai-stern doubted that he was the sole source of Alfeegi's annoyance, he certainly made an ideal target. "You don't seem to care that by slacking off as much as you do, it puts a huge amount of-"
"I can't read the report, Alfeegi." Kai-stern interrupted Alfeegi mid-flight. With a soft sigh, he removed his glasses, brushing his fingers across his tired eyelids. "I would love to read through these and sign them off for you right now, but it's not that I won't, it's that I can't." Almost two hundred years in this job, and only Lykouleon had ever known the true extent of the damage to his eyes.
Alfeegi watched him with eyes full of both suspicion and confusion, before he gasped just slightly. Kai-stern wasn't sure what it was that Alfeegi saw, maybe Kai-stern's eyes were duller than normal, or pain had tightened his features a tad more than Alfeegi was used to seeing, but it became starkly obvious when Alfeegi caught on.
"You can't see."
"I can see," Kai-stern protested back immediately, a little alarmed by how severe Alfeegi's statement had sounded. "Just, not all that well at the moment. It happens sometimes when I'm tired." Alfeegi chose to ignore him, as a hint of hysteria crept into his voice.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Two." Kai-stern couldn't help but roll his eyes, feeling like a child – no doubt because he was being treated like one.
"And now?"
"Four." Perhaps if Alfeegi had chosen not to wave his hand directly in front of Kai-stern's face, this task would be a little bit more difficult.
"And now?
"Two again."
"One out of three is not satisfactory, Kai-stern." What, one out of three? It took him a moment to realize that Alfeegi was still talking, his voice professionally cutting. "If this is what your eyesight is always like, then it's a disability that is far too hazardous considering the extent of your missions."
"I do not have a disability," Kai-stern growled, his own annoyance firmly setting in. "And having to wear glasses has never had any negative impact on any of my missions. It is only when I stress my eyes too much that there are any problems, and that is only whenever I have to work in this damn candlelight!" It was almost shocking to find he'd raised his voice at some time during their argument, especially considering it was something he so very rarely did. It was most likely a combination of the return of his headache coupled with the pain behind his eyes, mixed in with just a dash of bone-weary tiredness. Instead of looking even more annoyed, however, Alfeegi looked almost … pleased.
"Ah, so that is the problem. You should have said something then years ago, instead of having to wait for someone to provoke you into admitting it." Had Alfeegi of all people just played him? Alfeegi? "Surely you do not think anyone would have thought less of you if you had said that your eyesight could not handle the poor lighting of your office, did you?"
Kai-stern had no idea how to respond. He didn't know how to find the words to explain how even now it felt as though he could never properly measure up to the perfect Dragon Clan, who rarely had physical imperfections and seemed to know everything they needed with an instinctive nature that was beyond him. He'd only been 21 in human years when he had first taken up the position, an age where he'd have still been considered a mere child if he'd been a member of the Dragon Clan. Hell, Alfeegi had been considered too young when he'd gotten his position at 90 years of age, that Kai-stern had also been human – and one who had looked so strange at that – had caused a whole lot of resentment amongst those who had desired Kai-stern's job. It had taken years to prove himself of even being worthy of consideration, and it still felt as though one misstep, one opportunity to prove those disbelievers right, could destroy everything he had worked so hard for.
And he couldn't find the words, but somehow Alfeegi seemed to understand all the same.
"You are as bad as Tetheus, Kai-stern." Kai-stern had a feeling that this was the only time he'd ever been compared with the demon. "You judge yourself more harshly than anyone else does. I understand that there were … teething problems … originally, but only a fool would doubt your value, and only an idiot would ever pay attention to a fool."
For a moment, all Kai-stern could do was gaze up at Alfeegi, who held his gaze.
"Now, go to bed. You can read over the reports in the morning, and I'll sort out an office for you on the other side of the castle, there's much more sunlight there. I'll also order you in some special lamps that have this fantastic ability to equalize the light they emit almost perfectly." Alfeegi finished, heading for the door.
"Wait, Alfeegi." The other man turned around, glancing back at Kai-stern with a slightly raised eyebrow. "If you read the report to me, I should be able to sign it now. Like you said, it'll only take a couple of minutes." His smile was slightly lopsided. "But if it's too much of a …" he drifted off as Alfeegi walked back and pulled up a chair without hesitation, before picking up the report. Alfeegi had been right, and it wasn't long before they were walking back together towards the wing their apartments we located. They reached Kai-stern's room first, and they hovered outside his door for an uncomfortable moment before Kai-stern spoke up.
"I … Alfeegi. Thank you." He removed his glasses and ran the back of his palm harshly across his eyes. "My sight is something of a human flaw, I'm afraid."
"And yet, those human eyes you find to be so flawed still manage to see more clearly than those of any member of the Dragon Clan that I've ever known." The words seemed far too poetic coming from Alfeegi, who was always blunt and to the point, but Kai-stern found them to still be sincere all the same. Alfeegi brushed the tips of his fingers gently across Kai-stern's lashes, smiling just slightly. Butterfly kisses, his mother had always called them, although he doubted Alfeegi had meant to mimic an obviously human custom. "You might see your sight as your greatest weakness, but it is greater than any strength I personally possess."
It was a good thing when Alfeegi turned away just slightly, as Kai-stern didn't know if he would have been able to.
"Goodnight, Kai-stern."
"Night, Alfeegi."
It was not until after Alfeegi had rounded the far corner that Kai-stern finally slipped into his room.
Extra notes: I have this strange obsession with glasses, and explaining why characters wear them. In some fandoms explanations aren't all the necessary, but others do beg the question – especially fandoms that take place in magical worlds. That Kai-stern has to wear glasses when elves seem to have this magical ability to pretty much cure everything, is sort of strange. Perhaps the original injury/deficiency that Kai-stern suffered was so bad that poor eyesight was simply a side/lingering effect of the cure. Perhaps Kai-stern has reasons for being weary of Elvin magic. Perhaps Kai-stern grew up in an area that was too poor to have proper healers, and by the time that they became accessible, his eyesight couldn't be properly fixed. So many potential reasons and plot bunnies, all stemming from the simple fact that Kai-stern wears glasses .
