Sister From Another Mister - sequel to my story Brother From Another Mother (and Father). Refers to happenings in that story but can be read alone.

Word about the flooding in Fontaine arrives in Sumeru, leading to unexpected consequences.

~#~ Chapter 1 ~#~

Alhaitham sat at his desk staring blankly at the letter he'd just opened. It had arrived from Fontaine, earlier that morning, but he'd put it aside, expecting it to be nothing of importance, while he'd gone about arranging his work for the day.

When he'd finally reached for the envelope he had quickly realised that it wasn't from whom he expected. The only person he, even vaguely, knew from Fontaine was Kaveh's mother, Faranak, who had only written to him twice, both times sending short updates on her life, her husband and her daughter, so that Alhaitham could pass the information on to Kaveh as and when he saw fit.

This letter was different. It was from one of the gestionnaires based within the Court of Fontaine. It was handwritten but very obviously official as it was stamped at the bottom of the page with a blue and gold logo that Alhaitham knew to be a stylised version of the Opera Epiclese building.

Alhaitham reached his right hand up and squeezed his eyes before dragging his fingers down his face and sitting for a moment with his palm covering his mouth. "Archons," he exclaimed quietly. "Archons. Gods. Damn you all."

He slipped the letter back into its envelope and carefully placed it into his belt pouch. He pulled a pad of paper and a pen out of his desk and then thought better of it and threw them back into the drawer as he leapt out of his chair. He stepped around his desk, grabbed his cape from the peg by the door and then hurried out into the corridor.

It only took a moment for Alhaitham to reach the desk where the administrator sat. He very briefly explained that he would be taking a leave of absence, starting that moment and that he couldn't tell her how long he was going to be. This, in itself, wasn't an unusual request for Alhaitham who would often go off to further research something from one of the academic papers that he had been reading through, so the administrator shrugged and scrubbed him out of all the calendars for a starting estimate of three weeks. If he hadn't returned by the end of that time she would simply extend it until he came back. Alhaitham thanked her and nodded vaguely when she wished him a successful expedition and reminded him to stay safe.

He made his way out of the Akademiya and hurried home. Once there he grabbed a pack for himself and another for Kaveh, threw a collection of clothes and essentials into both and then grabbed some bottles of water, the fruit and most of the canned food items from the pantry and added these to the bags.

Once he was done, Alhaitham strode back out of the house, locking the door behind himself. With one pack over his left shoulder and the other in his right hand, he set out, through the main gate of the city, in the direction of Pardis Dhyai where Kaveh's latest build site was located.

~#~

Kaveh spotted Alhaitham as soon as he started down the hill that the build site sat at the bottom of. They met midway up the hill and Kaveh glanced at the packs with a look of trepidation on his face "What's happened," he murmured quietly. "Where…where are we going?"

Alhaitham handed Kaveh his pack, so he had both hands free to pull the letter out of his belt pouch. He kept hold of the letter but held it up so Kaveh could see it. "This came in today's post," he explained quietly. "Something…something's happened in Fontaine. There's been widespread flooding. People have been displaced, some have died, and…many are missing." His nose wrinkled as if he could smell something unpleasant. "Your mother being one of them."

Kaveh gasped and clutched his free hand against his chest. "What about…"

Alhaitham shook his head. "That's all I know, hence the packs. You need to put someone in charge here and we need to get there to find out what's going on. Hopefully by the time we get there, it'll all be sorted out and your mother, sister and stepfather will have been located. If not then…"

"We can provide extra manpower, offering our help, wherever we're needed," Kaveh finished quickly. "Come with me." He heaved his pack over one shoulder and turned to head back to the build site with Alhaitham trailing behind him.

~#~

It was several days later that Kaveh and Alhaitham finally made it into the Court of Fontaine. The city was in disarray with the roads missing most of their streetlamps, benches, bushes and trees. What had once been well-tended flowerbeds were sodden and mulchy, the non-permanent market stalls were piled, in varying states of destruction, against the sides of the buildings, and there were stunned-looking people desperately pulling detritus out of the canals and trying to sweep grime off the buildings, roads and pavements.

"How did anyone survive this?" Kaveh looked around in despair as Alhaitham gently coaxed him towards the grand building at the back of the city. The Palais Mermonia was the administrative hub of Fontaine, and it was there that the letter had suggested he should report to if he decided to attend Fontaine after receiving the news.

"Oh," Kaveh's initial reaction to stepping through the doors of the Palais was one of shock. "How?" He stepped back outside, looked the building up and down and then stepped back inside and simply gazed around the immaculate interior. "The buildings are…watertight? Wh…How…I need to…"

"Later," Alhaitham murmured softly and pushed him towards the door into what was obviously the main administrative area. He was loathe to stop Kaveh from investigating but they were in Fontaine for a reason and the watertight buildings would still be there to look at after Kaveh's mother, and the rest of his family, had been located.

Alhaitham headed towards the desk at the back of the room and ended up pretty much dragging Kaveh along with him, with his hand fisted in the back of the architect's shirt. The little, green-skinned creature behind the desk watched them approach and looked up at Alhaitham with large, pink eyes. "You are not from Fontaine," she stated quietly. "I am Sedene. Are you here to help us to restore the city?"

"We are willing to do what we can to help," Alhaitham replied softly. "But we are also here looking for someone. Well, several someones, actually." He took the letter out of his belt pouch and held it out. "I received this and came as soon as I could. Could you see if there has been any update?"

Sedene peered at the letter. "There are many people still missing…and I do not know of this one," she told him sadly and then pointed to the far left-hand corner of the room, "Eunomia is there. Please, if you speak to her, she may be able to tell you more."

Alhaitham thanked Sedene and turned towards the woman that she had pointed at. "How are you doing over there?" he murmured softly to Kaveh who was studiously looking anywhere except at Alhaitham in order to keep his emotions in check. "Let's speak to this Eunomia then we'll go and find a quiet room for a bit. OK?"

Kaveh sniffed quietly and held his hand out to the scribe. Alhaitham raised an eyebrow at him and released the grip he had on the back of his shirt and gently took hold of his wrist instead, rather than taking him by the hand.

The two men made their way down the room and stopped in front of the woman who Sedene had pointed out. Alhaitham released Kaveh's arm and gently placed the letter, along with his Akademiya ID card on the desk in front of himself. "Eunomia?" he asked. "I'm from the Akademiya in Sumeru. You sent me a letter. I'm afraid it's taken us a while to get here. Could you…"

"Alhaitham?" Eunomia's head snapped up and she met his slightly startled gaze. "Despite the obvious bookmark, I was worried it wasn't going to turn out to be a valid contact. The entry in the address book was…vague to say the least." She reached behind herself and pulled a small, mauve address book with pink flowers on it from a filing tray. The first entry, under the page bearing a tab denouncing it as 'A' was "XX Alhaitham. Akademiya. Sumeru. Kaveh XX."

Alhaitham raised his eyebrows. "I see. Well, it worked and I'm here…We're here." Kaveh remained silent but held his hand out towards the book. Eunomia glanced at Alhaitham who nodded back at her, and she placed it gently into Kaveh's hand. Alhaitham unconsciously resumed his grip on his shirt in case he decided to bolt. "This is Kaveh, Faranak's son, as per the end of the contact."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Eunomia gasped. "I was…"

Kaveh shook his head and held the book tightly against his chest. "It's fine," he whispered. "He…he takes her letters. I…we…" He stopped looked at Alhaitham helplessly.

"That is of no matter," Alhaitham said firmly. "I received the letter, I came, and I brought him with me. That is as much as needs discussing about our private arrangements. Now, please, do you have any updates for us. On either Faranak, Julien or their daughter?"

Eunomia rose to her feet. "Bear with me one moment while I check. Please, take a seat." She hurried up the room and disappeared from view through a pair of double doors. Alhaitham sat down and gently pushed Kaveh into the chair beside his when it became obvious that he wasn't going to do so on his own.

~#~

Eunomia returned a few minutes later with a large blue ledger clasped against her chest. Her face looked grim as she approached and Alhaitham's heart dropped. There was no way this was going to turn out to be good news.

"I'm so sorry for the wait, sirs," Eunomia told them breathlessly. "As you'd imagine, it's a little difficult to keep track of everyone at the moment. I do have news, though, some good and some, unfortunately, not."

Kaveh let out a quiet exhalation of breath and Alhaitham reached out and gently patted his shoulder to ground him. "Please continue."

"Monsieur Julien is unfortunately deceased. He was killed several weeks ago during the rebuilding of Poisson. There was an accident. A…a collapse of insecure rigging supporting an unstable building which caused it to fall. Three men died and four more were injured. Monsieur Julien was killed instantly, he would not have suffered."

Kaveh squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. He let out a shaky breath and looked across to meet Alhaitham's concerned eyes. "What of my mother?"

"Madame Faranak is yet to be located," Eunomia continued quietly. "There is still hope though as they are still finding people. Only this morning a whole family was found trapped within an elevator inside their apartment building. They were cold, tired and hungry but they were alive. As you've seen, the buildings are sturdy, and most have survived completely unscathed."

Kaveh nodded and glanced quickly up at the wall behind her. "…and the baby?" he whispered. "My…sister?"

Eunomia smiled this time. "She is safe. She was found, alone, in your mother's home. The neighbours had reported distressed cries coming from inside and the gardes were forced to break in to retrieve her. They searched for, and found, the address book that you have there and, that leads us to today."

"Where is the baby now?" Alhaitham asked softly. "I take it she's being appropriately cared for?"

Eunomia nodded. "All displaced children have been temporarily placed within the House of the Hearth. They have many extra mouths to feed but are more than able to care for them. I can give you directions, should you wish to check on her."

Alhaitham was aware the moment that Kaveh froze and he squeezed the shoulder that he'd left his hand resting on. "We don't need to go today," he replied, aiming the statement towards both Eunomia and Kaveh. "She's safe for now. Maybe tomorrow, eh?" This last bit was addressed to Kaveh who gave the most miniscule of shrugs. Alhaitham turned back to Eunomia, "We need to find somewhere to stay while we're here. Can you help with that?" Eunomia nodded, jotted a note on a piece of paper and pushed it across the desk towards him.

Alhaitham reached for the paper only to find it pulled away again as Eunomia flipped it over and wrote the directions for the House of the Hearth on the back. She then turned it back over and pushed it into his still-outstretched hand. "For later," she told him with a sad look towards Kaveh. "I am sorry I couldn't bring you better news about your parents," she said softly. "But I'm glad that your sister is safe and being well looked after."

Kaveh nodded vaguely and then held the address book out to Eunomia. "No, that's yours now," she told him quietly. "It did its job and got you both here. It doesn't need to be here any longer."

Kaveh pulled the book back against his chest with a shrug and looked at Alhaitham. "Do we know where…"

Alhaitham nodded. "Yes, I have the address, if we need it. For tonight though, you rest. At…" He peered at what Eunomia had written, "…the Hotel Debord. No arguments."

Kaveh shrugged again. "No arguments," he agreed. "Thank you, Eunomia. If you hear anything further, could you please get a message to us at the hotel. We'll be here for…" He looked at Alhaitham who just raised his eyebrows at him and shrugged, "…for at least the next few days."