Alhaitham/Kaveh - Kavetham - Haikaveh

KAVEH

A renowned architect from Sumeru who perhaps cares a bit too much about too many things. He is an aesthete troubled by reality.

Kaveh is a well-known Sumeru architect who graduated from Kshahrewar with honors. He is a staunch defender of the arts and greatly appreciates aesthetics and artistic maturity in most things including architecture, interior designs, mechanics, and even storytelling.[2][3] In contrast to Alhaitham's rationality, Kaveh operates by what he feels to be right, first and foremost.

Kaveh has quite the reputation among Akademiya students and Sumeru citizens and is described as a genius and talented architect. For example, Sasani, an NPC located in The Palace of Alcazarzaray, admires his masterpiece[4] and feels unfortunate for not having the honor to speak with him in person. Araby, an NPC found in front of the Pharos Lighthouse, and Nilou also praise his magnum opus.[5][6] Kaveh is characterized by Faruzan as a good kid with great potential and original ideas in his mind[2] and Dori as being unique among Akademiya scholars in regards to being more open-minded. Alhaitham describes him as a light of the Kshahrewar and a master builder and craftsman. According to Alhaitham's Character Story, Alhaitham acknowledges Kaveh's exceptional brilliance and portrays him as a genius and an excellent mirror of himself. He also concludes that he possesses a personality and values that are not congruous with his abilities.[7]

Kaveh seems to be thoughtful of others and shows great empathy towards people around him. He approaches people without hesitation if he suspects they're in trouble and even lends his hand by providing his Mora.[8] It is mentioned by Alhaitham that he is too considerate of others and is emotionally fragile.[Note 1] Alhaitham even recounts a story where Kaveh purchased a dozens of handmade keychains that were being sold under the pretense that the proceeds would help feed hungry children. Kaveh states helping others make him happy and thinks mutual assistance, fairness, and righteous anger are also what drive the world.[8] He also seems to be very passionate about his career and works his fingers to the bone to please his clients.[9]

Due to the stark contrast in ideologies and personalities, Kaveh gets easily flustered when particularly dealing with Alhaitham. Kaveh and Alhaitham's clash in intense disagreements are shown in the game scenes, characters' voice-lines, and even in the messages on bulletin boards across Sumeru City and Port Ormos. He is also notably over-reliant on alcohol, using it as a social crutch and as one of the few ways he allows himself to "drown his sorrows".

Kaveh uses the tall male model. He has distinct, medium-length blond hair with dirty blond ends and sharp eyes with red irises.

'Mainstream Sumeru academia tends to hide a certain fact from time to time, which is that for some people, talent can occasionally be more of a burden instead. Nevertheless, this view can also be but an excuse. In truth, it is your character that determines your destiny first and foremost. The aforementioned ideas are the sort that Kaveh will persistently rebut." —Alhaitham

renowned architect from Sumeru, known as the Light of Kshahrewar. He is one of the most high-profile figures in the industry.

As a designer and an outstanding alumnus, Kaveh has quite the reputation among Akademiya students and is idolized as a role model by the students of Kshahrewar. Unfortunately, his career is not as plain-sailing as people imagine. The same can be said for many other facets of his life.

Titles, rumors, fame, and reputation... These are all mere by-products of his work. Equipped with astounding professional design skills, Kaveh puts his heart and soul into his work and is imbued with ideals and pursuits for aesthetics and architectonics. Designers are not in charge of the construction's final execution, yet they hold responsibility for all its aspects. Thus, be it design details, safety and security, or practicality, no effort may be spared in ensuring the quality of each aspect. On top of that, being one of the best in his field, Kaveh pays additional attention to the aesthetic and human elements that he is concerned about throughout the process. For him, designs that are completely divorced from reality should be classified as fantasy, whereas a building that is actually put into construction must have practical value.

That said, it is rather inconceivable that such an extraordinary architect could have been rendered bankrupt by a single project. Fortunately, very few know about this matter, and most of them keep it a secret. As for Kaveh himself, he is deathly afraid that the secret of his bankruptcy might ever leak out. It is thus fair to say that he is not really living his ideal life.

Character Details In a land brimming with as much talent as Sumeru, one is practically spoiled for choice when it comes to designers. But when one speaks of architects, few are those who will not subconsciously think of "Kaveh." The Kshahrewar graduate was once named the greatest architect in several decades and is known as the Light of Kshahrewar. Kaveh himself, however, is unfortunately unmoved by this title.

Such lovely names and titles are, to him, acknowledgment and shackles both. For example, Kaveh's insolvency remains a matter of shame for him to this day. A person with little to no standing could just admit to such a thing, but a famous architect cannot. In fact, such undue candor might result in a crisis of reputation for him. So, Kaveh cannot but avoid this topic to save face, and be forced to masquerade as a man living in leisure.

Thanks to his abilities as a designer and his astounding aesthetic attainments, people believe in his talent, and thus, in his facade also.

After all, what could possibly trouble Kaveh, architect extraordinaire?

Character Story 1 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 2

Up till today, one can hear Kshahrewar students discuss and speculate about their alumnus Kaveh at the Palace of Alcazarzaray and various parts of the Akademiya. In the hearts of his Darshan-mates, Kaveh is a genius nigh-unparalleled in the last few decades and an architect of great fame. Kaveh has, by his outstanding works, engraved his name into the history of the Akademiya. If you are to meet Kshahrewar students, it wouldn't hurt to listen to them extol his achievements: Single-handedly designing the Palace of Alcazarzaray, renovating the landmark lighthouse of Port Ormos, modifying the port's elevators and cargo-handling structures, his pioneering role in the spatial optimization of the peripheral areas surrounding forests and valleys... The list goes on.

Clad in these achievements, Kaveh has become more than a simple name, but a synonym for achievement in the field of design. Many wish they could have a resume like his: brilliantly talented in school, invited to work in various major construction agencies after graduation, and leaving after several years to do work under his own name.

All outsider readings of his life stop here, and almost none know of the hidden truth behind the stories — the truth that Kaveh himself is trying to hide. It is true, of course, that he is an exceptional designer. It is a shame, then, this has not allowed him to live the perfect life that others think he does.

He would summarize his past experiences in this way: Misunderstandings are troublesome but inevitable. All people are vulnerable to momentary lapses in judgment and to the influence of rigid labels. For example, their first reaction to "designer" is the fantasy of someone who earns Mora with a flick of their fingers, who becomes famous with but a few strokes of a pen. And when people think about "the arts," the first thing that emerges is the bizarre, unfounded image of some lackadaisical, self-centered soul who swings between bouts of gloom and mania, and who is all too fond of bossing others about.

Kaveh does not fit any such imaginative fantasies. He cannot complete his designs in a single stroke, instead approaching every job earnestly. He dresses like a successful person, but in truth, he does not judge the merit of a project by the remuneration alone. He is principled beyond most other people in Sumeru, believing that "art" is the wellspring of a life in design, and yet does not forsake humanistic purpose or practicality in the process. Indeed, he is willing to make some compromises for these two things. Sometimes, he compromises on rest time, other times it is the ornamentation and trappings of the project... and sometimes it is his own pay.

After many years, he finally succeeded. The Palace of Alcazarzaray was completed, and he returned to Sumeru in glory. His colleagues had naught but praise for the fabled palace atop a large tree, stunned as they were by its designer's astounding imagination. They gorged themselves upon the way in which the structure united architectural function and human narrative into its elegant design values, resulting in luxurious craftsmanship that yet exists as a testament to precision and elegance, rewriting the atmosphere of the surrounding mountainous space with its very presence. No one would say that the Palace of Alcazarzaray was any less than an exceedingly successful experiment.

Those colleagues, however, were blissfully unaware of how Kaveh went bankrupt over this project due to a mix of personal principle, the vagaries of life, and other problems layered atop one another. After all, the truth — much like the troubled gestation of this success — has remained well-hidden thanks to Kaveh's efforts.

Character Story 2 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 3

Kaveh was born into a classic scholarly family in Sumeru. His father was from the Rtawahist Darshan and once worked at the Akademiya, while his mother had graduated from Kshahrewar, and much as he would become later in life, she too was a famous architect. Influenced by them, Kaveh was interested in architectural design from a young age. They would sit in the living room as he sat at home playing with the block puzzles they had bought for him.

Theirs was a house in which words were not necessary, and Kaveh would gain his understanding of "home" from this time.

However, their blissful days were not to last. Some time before he joined the Akademiya, his father would, at his encouragement, join the Interdarshan Championship. The competition itself was not a complicated affair, but his father, who became a favorite to win, would miss becoming champion by a hair, and then proceeded to go missing for a time afterward.

Soon, the bad news came: His father had perished in an accident in the desert. The suddenness of this misfortune threw mother and son into disarray. His mother was hit particularly hard. Being a sensitive soul by nature, her husband's passing would cause her to break down, spending much time in anxious, gloomy thought. As for Kaveh, he would see his father's laugh and promise to bring something nice back for him as he walked out that door every time he closed his eyes to sleep. Young Kaveh thought that had he not said anything, his father might not have taken part in the contest, and he would not have gone missing afterward, and finally perished as a result. But no matter how he begged, the past could not be changed.

His father's death, his mother's agony... all these things that could no longer be taken back were on the account of a single thing he had said. From that day forward, he would live under the shadow of that guilt. His mother would say that her husband was a man with a good heart, and that life at such a person's side made her happy. Indeed, after his passing, she would never again smile. "Home" went from a sanctuary of warmth and light to a cold and lonely hall. Kaveh would often find his mother sitting on the sofa staring at her trembling hands in silence. She could neither draw anything at all, nor even conceive of a design in her mind. Each time this happened, Kaveh would feel like a giant hand was crushing him to the ground, and he would question himself: Were it not for me, would the family have ended up like this?

At that time, he was still young, and he could do very little. Out of guilt, he would do his best to keep his mother company, and he would never wear a disappointed face around her, trying to support her in any way he could, even if such was but a drop in the bucket.

It was amidst this chaos that Kaveh would reach schooling age and, having passed the entrance exams, enroll into Kshahrewar. During this time, he would inevitably spend less time with his mother. She would thus travel to Fontaine to ease her soul a little. There, she would receive a job offer, and upon returning to Sumeru, she informed Kaveh of the good news. Kaveh knew that this would leave him to live alone, but still, he agreed, and even saw his mother off on the day she departed.

He would continue to look on even after her ship had long left the harbor. He would deeply miss her, but he knew that it was best that she left the place that had come to represent so much pain for her. For her sake, Kaveh would never admit that he was lonely. He assured her that he was all grown up now and could live independently. And if he should be kept awake at night by loneliness, pain, or memories of their now-broken family, why, it was his just desserts for egging his father on to take part in the competition. One guilty of harming his parents so deeply deserved all that came to them, and so he must live on bearing that brand.

Given that such thoughts have been his constant companions since, one could say that "home" taught Kaveh how to care, and also utterly purged him of the ability to knowingly harm another person. In the many years afterward, he would remain trapped by his personality and ideals, desiring to help any and all who asked it of him, and unable to truly oppose others even if he wished to try and resist on some matters. Despite the good he often does, his guilt remains. More than this, he cannot accept pure goodwill, for when he makes choices, he believes that he should be punished, and finds some comfort in the pain.

If Kaveh were a sculpture, he would be one that appeared all but flawless, but which would suffer utter destruction if the weak point in its core were to be found.

Character Story 3 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 4

After graduating, Kaveh's first project was helping out with a group project with other students of the same Darshan, though they had different mentors. This being his debut as the person responsible for design, the work weighed heavily on him. But he is (by his own admission) a stubborn person, and he would spend all his energy on his work, and thus would he shoulder the work for others, heedless of the hour, on all manner of projects for two entire years.

Once he had gained enough experience, Kaveh left these cooperative projects behind to work in his own name, gaining a clientele who appreciated his style. Some would ask him to design buildings, and this marked the beginning of his career. By dint of his hard work, he was able to save up a good sum of Mora. It did not take long, however, for Kaveh to hit a bottleneck. The demands of the market were very different from academic design. It was more pragmatic, more snobbish, and the clients' requirements were far harder to meet than his mentors' had been. At the same time, academic trends in Sumeru were disrupting his work. He began to realize that his ideals and career goals were, as a certain someone had said, not easily attainable.

New iterations of the schools of thought and viewpoints amongst researchers were constantly being created, and there was no lack of those who would engage in self-critique and self-reflexive questioning, with changes and improvements in social factors encouraging such considerations. As such, things that were once recommended might someday become objects of criticism, whether they be actual books or art.

But other than those who had given themselves wholly over to art, no one could understand what artists in Sumeru had to endure. As academic accomplishment became ever more prized in Sumeru, researchers would in turn value pure academic accomplishments and practical skills more highly. The Six Sages would grow ever more radical in their ways, and the idea that "the arts provide no real benefits" started to become mainstream. Thus, those who worked in the arts would be marginalized, and those subjects that were often related to the arts sought to distance themselves.

The engineering projects that Kaveh came into contact with were highly streamlined, bereft of flair or style. He would suggest various beautiful designs, only to have them rejected on the grounds that they were "meaningless presentation," or that "this project only needs practical buildings." His original pursuit was to make good designs for all that incorporated both artistic beauty and practicality, but now that the arts had become a joke, and people rejected their necessity and value, no one would give him freedom to work on his designs. Kaveh, believing that architecture was indeed art, resolutely opposed such viewpoints. But his job required him to have technical support and investments, and so he could not escape these circles, nor could he simply put his views out there in the open for fear that he might drag too many others down with him.

With his dreams and career now at odds, Kaveh gave himself a long vacation. But when he returned home, he received an unexpected letter from Fontaine. It was from his mother, and she wrote that she had found someone to whom she could entrust the rest of her life, and as such was going to remarry in Fontaine. It was this news that she would, with great trepidation and expectation, relate to her only relative.

Kaveh wrote back and congratulated her, and would even go to Fontaine to take part in the wedding. It was a simple affair, and only a few guests were present. Seeing his mother smile once more, Kaveh felt glad, but felt lost again almost immediately afterwards.

His mother would leave all her property in Sumeru to him. Three days later, he would return to Sumeru, and once again felt the terror of the empty home — the mere act of sitting on the sofa tormented him with heretofore unmatched solitude. Here, he felt the old adage of all wise scholars being fulfilled: "Do the right thing, no matter what it costs you."

Character Story 4 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 5

The more he continued to work in the construction industry, the stronger Kaveh's displeasure with the current state of society grew. It was at this moment that a turning point came. The wealthy merchant, Lord Sangemah Bay, sought him out to construct a private mansion.

Lord Sangemah Bay had become fairly famous, but Kaveh had no idea that this "Lord"'s name was in fact Dori until they met, nor did he have any reckoning of her power and riches. She only had two conditions for this mansion, that it be large and extravagant. Kaveh would probe her concerning design style and other details, but she was unconcerned with such. Even amongst his clients, Dori stood out as a bit of an oddity. She did business, but seemed to care little for what researchers thought. She wanted her mansion built in a secluded place — for business needs, or so she claimed — and Kaveh was told not to ask too many questions and simply aim to make a truly awe-inspiring estate. As for aesthetics, Dori neither cared for nor stopped him from doing anything he wished.

Kaveh realized almost immediately how rare it was to come by such a commission. A mansion construction project without limitations meant that he could put his all into it. Party A would fork out the resources, while Party B would do the work — was this not how their business should be? And was allowing academic views to restrict development and growth not utterly wrong-headed? So it was with that Kaveh threw himself in planning these designs with a sudden fervor, and, in his role as "Party B," he advised Dori to make some adjustments. A true mogul could not simply live in the mountains. If this estate was to go down in history, it had to be something of truly legendary beauty! A garden was a must, with the flowers carefully selected, of course, with the input of professional botanists. The conceptualization must be bold, the planning conscientious. The buildings themselves would prioritize practicality, but the requested warehouses and facilities would rest upon a luxuriant foundation. And as for location... the cliff-side in the northern mountains looked good. Lord Sangemah Bay would awaken every day with a window onto the loveliest natural views that could be had.

Though Dori would constantly insist that the mansion did not have to be close to a cliff, Kaveh's engineering spirit and aesthetic appetites drove him on to convince her otherwise. Thus did the project begin with a flourish, and as the days passed, work proceeded apace under Kaveh's watchful eye.

Yet his ideals would not be so easily achieved, for though Kaveh's diligence in selecting a site had been immaculate, and he had made every consideration, he could not have anticipated the speed at which the Withering would expand its reach that year. When the work was 70% complete, on a quiet night, the Withering crept in silently, destroying all that had been built overnight. The sight of his creation's devastated corpse struck Kaveh like a furious thunderbolt. Dori, who had rushed down upon receiving the news, was in incomparable fury, demanding that Kaveh leave the project. Though the Forest Rangers quickly dispersed The Withering, the buildings were beyond saving.

Yet he knew that it would be difficult to ever get a chance of this sort again, and so he begged Dori to let him finish the Palace of Alcazarzaray. Dori would point out the crucial problem with stark sharpness: He had been the one to insist on the change of site. Now that the palace had been destroyed, taking the investment put in thus far with it, how could the project continue, even assuming that she did not pursue the matter with him? If they were to rebuild the structure, who would bear the cost for the losses?

Kaveh sat atop the ruins as he contemplated this all night long. He had his savings, and the property his parents had left behind. That had once been his "home," but now, it was just an empty building. And what was a "home," anyway? An architect like him knew better than most that a construction bereft of a family or people to dwell in it was no "home." It was simply a building.

When the sun rose, Kaveh returned to Sumeru City and sold that house. Adding all the proceeds from that sale, along with his savings, to the funds Dori had provided with him, he was able to come up with 70% of the necessary Mora required, with Dori coming up with the rest.

Thus was the Palace of Alcazarzaray built on a beautiful, sunny day. Kaveh had given all he possessed to build a legendary palace that did not belong to him in the slightest. He did not earn a single Mora on this project. On the contrary, some slight overspending on the follow-up work would leave him heavily in debt to Dori. While Kaveh made a token show of resisting, he knew in his heart that he could not deny the fact that he did indeed owe this debt. His heart was once again consumed by that old guilt, and Lord Sangemah Bay, shrewd merchant that she was, could immediately perceive that he was paying not for her sake, but for that of his ideals.

And if someone wanted to martyr their entire fortune on the altar of their ideals, who was she to stop them? Construction was ultimately just business, but ideals were priceless. As for how Kaveh would come to be homeless afterward, that is a different story.

Character Story 5 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 6

After going bankrupt, Kaveh entered into a period of melancholy. The Palace of Alcazarzaray had ever so briefly filled the hole in his heart that had been ripped open by so many things, but it had also proved to him once again that no matter what he gave to attain his ideals, it wasn't enough. He was now directionless, and enmeshed in a world where he could not go anywhere without Mora. And yet he was accustomed since his youth to putting on a brave front, and so Kaveh was unwilling to let his colleagues and friends know that he was nigh penniless even after selling all he owned, and so he went to a tavern, where he would order a few bottles and chat to comfort himself. One bottle later, he would collapse at the table, only to wake up in the exact same position afterward.

Lambad, the tavern owner, had reserved a seat and a few free drinks for him out of kindness, and as thanks, Kaveh helped him redesign and refit the booth seating area of the tavern's second floor. He would occasionally meet friends from his Akademiya schooling days, and with them he would pretend that he was just here to drink and gather inspiration. He would spend over a fortnight in this manner, during which he would encounter that friend that he no longer called "friend."

When discussing Kaveh's old friends, the current Akademiya Scribe, Alhaitham of Haravatat, will invariably get mentioned. Alhaitham enrolled at a later date than most of those his age, but his grades stood out above the rest. People didn't know who he was or where to find him normally, only that he was some student who had gotten high marks. And when his name was mentioned, even the old researchers from Kshahrewar would shake their heads and say that he was too intelligent by half and hard to get along with.

At that time, Kaveh had just parted ways with his mother and was living alone. He would meet this junior student in the library at times, and would speak to him out of curiosity, and thus did he meet the Haravatat genius Alhaitham. But time would go on to prove that wishful thinking alone does not friends make. For Kaveh quickly realized that Alhaitham, though two years his junior and admittedly both extremely talented and incredibly gifted, was also utterly different from him, whether it be in personality, dealing with people, academic direction, and convictions.

Kaveh's time in school would leave him with a great many memories, the least pleasant of which is the group project they undertook together. Each recognized the other's ability, and they decided to conduct research regarding ancient structures, ancient runes, and linguistics, with Kaveh suggesting that Alhaitham be the one responsible for selecting the topic. At first, others would take also take part in the cooperative project, but as the work progressed, the other students dropped out gradually as they could not keep up.

That was the first time Kaveh realized the brutal and all-too-intuitive difference in talent between individuals. The Akademiya linked talent and resources to an extreme degree, and all here knew that. As Alhaitham liked to put it, certain matters have their upper limit determined by talent and their lower bound determined by hard work. Ordinary people and geniuses would be separated by various practical realities, and they did not have to force themselves to fit into a group they did not belong to. Kaveh, however, was resolute in his belief that this was all the result of obstacles that appeared during the process, and that wisdom should be uncovered by many people. To prevent the other students from backing out, Kaveh spent much time and effort helping them with their work, placing a great burden on his own shoulders. Alhaitham persisted in upholding the opposite view, believing Kaveh to be too idealistic in his ways — academia was not charity work, and temporary salvation would not change the reality of their differences in ability. Thus did discord arise between the two.

Finally, the day came when only two people remained working on the topic: Alhaitham and Kaveh. The disputes between them accumulated to a critical mass before exploding spectacularly. Kaveh maintained that Alhaitham was too much of an egoist, that he could be much better welcomed amongst people if he would just care about helping out more often. Alhaitham for his part pointed out that Kaveh's impractical idealism was just a flight from reality, and that it would come to be a burden on his existence someday, and the source of Kaveh's altruism was naught but his inescapable sense of guilt. At that moment, more than anything else, Kaveh felt cut to the quick by someone who was his best friend. Alhaitham had seen through the reality that he had never been able to face, causing him to feel reality's bite for the first time, a feeling that made Kaveh steadfastly declare that he regretted making friends with this all-too-intelligent person. The two parted ways in a single stroke. Alhaitham would remove his name from that thesis, while Kaveh would rip his copy of the thesis apart in a fury — only to put it back together with deep regret. He sensed that he would not be able to change his friend, with the reverse also being true.

Afterwards, the two would later clash in academic journals several times, each criticizing the other's perspective. Before this, the "Decoding the Runes and Architectural Philosophy of the Ruins of King Deshret's Civilization" had made great progress. Its fruits on the linguistics front had filled various gaps in the grammatical logic of some ancient minor languages, allowing for the successful interpretation of many important texts. Similarly, the results achieved in architectural studies had successfully improved the load-bearing structures for some special terrain features in Sumeru, which greatly improved the lives of those living in remote regions. To encourage the project, the Akademiya had even specially designated a research site for its use. Unfortunately, lacking manpower and a united vision on the part of its primary researchers, it eventually ground to a halt.

This failed project became an unavoidable part of Kaveh's past. As the years passed, and he was beaten back by reality time and time again, Kaveh was forced to admit that his persistence born of wishful thinking was not always useful. It was only when he was rendered penniless that he finally understood the deeper meaning behind his friend's past words. A person who wished to ascend to the garden of heaven upon steps made of thin air would inevitably plant their feet on an empty stair and fall to their death. As a genius, Kaveh longed to belong in a crowd, subconsciously fearing separation from it — this was the difference between him and Alhaitham.

Returning to the matter of that table in the tavern, Kaveh was deeply shocked to see Alhaitham, who was coincidentally present to purchase some alcohol, in this place. Alhaitham for his part could immediately tell that Kaveh was in a very bad way. Having been oppressed by life for too long, Kaveh completely unloaded all his woes onto his erstwhile friend right there and then. After all, there was nowhere to hide from his problems, so what use was concealing them in front of the one friend with whom he had fallen out so acrimoniously? He would lament about a great many misfortunes that had befallen him, only falling silent when they left the tavern in the dead of night, and his eyes fell upon a place in the distance that he once called home. Alhaitham, on the other hand, listened intently to Kaveh's words, and seeing through him once more, asked him a difficult question: "How has realizing your ideals gone for you?"

Only reality can force a researcher to admit that they were wrong, but Kaveh did not know what he should consider reality. He yearned for a fantasy so perfect and beautiful that none need flee it, even if the price of this dream was losing himself. He still firmly believed that his ideals were in themselves not mistaken, and that the fault lay only in the methods used to achieve them.

People should not give up, for even if they are doing good in an attempt to make up for something, the results will still have meaning for some. Even if he could not enter that promised land of his ideals, that did not mean the radiance and the attraction of such a realm should be denied.

As for those phantasm-like realities, like how he found his homeless self living his friend's house by happenstance, or how this house, now under the Scribe's name, had been converted from that same research center the Akademiya had offered them back in the day, or how this excess academic asset would not have been turned into a residence at all after numerous transactions, had Kaveh not resolved to give it up... Or how, knowing full well that Alhaitham never did perform a good deed unconditionally, Kaveh would be plagued by guilty conscience and proactively mention helping with household chores, only to become saddled with all the domestic errands... These might be an annoyance for someone at a low point in life, but they are also proof the most unshakable part of one's past is a friend that will never change. Rationality and sensibility, language and architecture, knowledge and human feelings... Things that can never be integrated are what constitute the two sides of the mirror — indeed, of the entire world.

Old Sketchbook Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 4

A thick old sketchbook with a leather cover. It does not merely contain doodles, but also some clippings. Its owner must have been using it as a sort of scrapbook of memorabilia:

Page 1: "Architectural Drawing Basics," Author: Faranak. Postscript: "Mother's book. Is it just me, or does the cover seem to be a bit washed out?"

Page 15: A simple drawing that shows a person falling into quicksand. It is "hidden" because in [sic] the pages before and after it have been stuck together using glue. Postcript [sic]: "Father... Forgive me. I don't know what I should write in order to... Please, forgive me."

Page 26: A topic application form. Postscript: "A fine beginning. Such an intelligent collaborator is hard to come by."

Page 31: Some academic notes and architectural drawings. Postscript: "Our views are aligned, and they are complete." This line has been struck out.

"Our views are contradictory, but it is through contradiction that more speculation and philosophy may be born." This line has been retained.

Page 42: The cover of a thesis that has been torn up, then put together again. No postscript.

Page 47: An excerpt from a school publication. The original title is unknown, and the preserved content is as follows:

"The selfish cannot understand wisdom's final destination. Though all of us might claim to have a place in this great hall of learning, we must understand that it is people, and not knowledge, that make our world what it is. Without a vessel, knowledge shall have no home. Universal values must naturally have some merit to be named such, and denying their general meaning does not mean that minority viewpoints will arise accordingly. This is the case with aesthetics. Beauty is something objective that exists in human hearts. It will not lose its value simply because some people cannot understand it.

"To view oneself as some mighty vessel is to fall to the narrowness of the researcher. Know that truth has never existed for the sake of individuals. The logic of the world coexists with nature, and this will not easily change whether it is interpreted as such or not. Excessive belief in the object is self-disclosure just the same, a manifestation of a lack of confidence in the subject. Moreover, one who is sufficiently self-confident will not need to constantly use plural forms of address, such as 'we.' I alone am sufficient to sustain this position — this I can assert."

Page 56: A hand-drawn sketch of the Akademiya. Postscript: "I shall probably not return to work here, but I do hope that I can return to this place as a speaker on a pulpit one day."

The 20 pages that follow are full of work timetables and notes that accompany pictures. The handwriting goes from precise to messy, indicating that time is growing tighter, and the one writing the notes is busy with work.

Page 85: A sketch too lovely to be called such. It appears to be some mighty work of construction in miniature. Postscript: "Workable, but requires far too many resources. Details to be considered."

Page 91: Messy doodles. All over the place. No postscript.

Page 92: A real estate transfer certificate. Postscript: "This might be impulsive of me, but I cannot refuse this possibility that fills me with so much hope. May everything go smoothly."

Page 101: Some small doodles. Postscript: "I'm done for! I can't draw. I won't draw tomorrow."

Page 107: Interior design images. This appears to be the second floor of Lambad's Tavern. Postscript: "Could I ever do anything better?"

Page 112: Rent records. Postscript: "I mean, I wouldn't call this a bad thing... But how did things turn out like this? That guy definitely wouldn't take me in for no reason and without expecting anything... But what could I possibly do for him?"

Page 115: Suitcase design draft. Postscript: "Mehrak is an ancient word, one I have used as the name for this suitcase. It means 'little light.' More than anything, I hope it really can understand what I'm saying."

Vision Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 6

While he was still a student, Kaveh would often be busy with various projects. During this time, he would visit numerous ruins with fellow students. They were all very young at the time, and were as yet unable to descend to the heart of the tombs, but they managed to achieve significant results nonetheless.

However, the study of ancient ruins comes with its risks, and they would find themselves imperiled despite their professionalism. During one such search, the student team encountered some danger, and there was a cave-in. If not for Kaveh pushing two fellow Kshahrewar students out of the tomb, they would surely have died there. As for Kaveh himself, though he also escaped with some light injuries, he could not stop his fellow students' change of heart. He believed that he was helping them achieve results, but instead most of his fellow students saw only a perceived difference in ability, and troubled by the situation, they elected to quit the project.

Kaveh knew of the objects known as "Visions." He had originally thought that they would appear at moments of crisis, but he had been through one such mortal crisis already, he had not received the favor of the gods, but instead had to use all his strength to drag everyone out of the fire.

Years later, Kaveh graduated, left the Akademiya, and threw himself into his work. He had by then ceased to think about Visions for some time, or even consider further as to what kind of people would come into possession of such an item. People said that only those with a wish could receive divine favor this way — perhaps he was just not such a person.

Everything that happened after flowed like a stream of water, dull and unchanging. He would busy himself with design work, for a while becoming overwhelmed, with the lack of acknowledgment of the arts causing him to feel fatigued. His mother would set up a new family in Fontaine, leaving the house and her other possessions to him, her son... He could do nothing about these things, and they also felt unremarkable and unworthy of mention.

This persisted till the day the first version of the Palace of Alcazarzaray was destroyed by The Withering, and he was sitting upon the wreck of that building, contemplating the whole night through. Suddenly, he would resolve to boldly bet it all on chasing the dream before him, come what may. Thus did he return home and quickly hit up the relevant departments to put things in order. Coincidentally, that day was a smooth one for transactions, and Kaveh spent only half a day transferring ownership of his house, coming to possess a sum of Mora that he would later redirect into that project.

After settling a host of trivial matters, Kaveh would return to the old home he had lived in for many years for the final time. He would use flatbread to place a simplified Palace of Alcazarzaray upon his plate, drizzled with sauce and yogurt, making himself a beautiful snack in the process.

This dish was not hard, and he had been taught to make it by his father in his youth. He had not made that dish much since his father's passing, and it was merely impulse that guided him to give it a try that day. This was not his favorite dish, exactly, but a sudden bitterness stole its way up his throat when he made to smash the flatbread palace and start eating.

Within the shattered bread-palace lay a shimmering Vision.

Kaveh stared at it, unable to believe his eyes. It had arrived quite a few years late, but here it still lay before him, as gorgeous as some fantastic sky-realm — and thankfully, it was a lot closer to him than his ideals were.

Kaveh is responsible for the appearance of several locations in Sumeru, such as the Palace of Alcazarzaray, the renovation of Pharos Lighthouse, the design of the arch bridge of Port Ormos, and the redesign and refitting of the second floor booth seating area of Lambad's Tavern. Messages between Kaveh and Alhaitham can be read in the Mahamata Bulletin Board, Puspa Café Message Board, and the Port Ormos Bulletin Board. Using Nahida's All Schemes to Know on Kaveh post-quest of Alhaitham's Story Quest, Vultur Volans Chapter: Act I - The Illusions of the Mob reveals that Kaveh has no memory of these conversations, as he privately hopes that Alhaitham is unaware he's been writing on message boards while drunk. The abandoned joint study that Alhaitham and Kaveh worked on together, mentioned in Alhaitham's Character Story 4, is elaborated upon in Kaveh's own Character Story 5. Self-evident to the title, "Decoding the Runes and Architectural Philosophy of the Ruins of King Deshret's Civilization," their research was able to fill in gaps of understanding in ancient languages and revolutionize architecture in areas of Sumeru with unique terrain. The house they now share was originally a research center provided by the Akademiya for their studies, which was converted into a proper home after it fell into disuse due to a lack of manpower and a united vision for their studies. Kaveh has retained some level of fluency in at least one of the ancient languages he and Alhaitham learned for their project, a fact revealed when Alhaitham leaves a note that only Kaveh will be able to decipher in the A Parade of Providence Event.[10] Despite his claim that his translation is rough and potentially inaccurate, it proves word-for-word identical to Alhaitham's own translation of the same text later on.[11] While living with Alhaitham, Kaveh has his own house key which can be seen in Alhaitham's first idle animation. His house key is gold with a gold and green bow, and he has a keychain ring with a lion shaped keychain with a brown gear mane attached. The lion keychain alludes to his Darshan, the Kshahrewar. While his age is never stated, his Hangout Event gives a range for his age, which falls in his late twenties, between 25 and 30 years old. This is further backed up by information from his profile stories and the event story of A Parade of Providence. In Kaveh's Hangout Event, he discovers a drawing he made before the age of 5, stating that it was made more than 20 years ago, confirming that he is likely now over 25 years old.[12] He also discovers an illustration by Faranak which he estimates was drawn more than 30 years ago, and clarifies that he had not yet been born at the time it was illustrated, implying that he is around 30 years old or younger.[13] Kaveh's father died 20 years before the start of the game. Kaveh clarifies he was "very young" at the time and could do little to help his mother.[14][15] He entered the Akademiya when he reached schooling age, around the time of his father's death. While the Sumeru schooling age is never explicitly stated, enrolling a child at the age of seven is considered "early," with the oldest known child enrollment into the Akademiya being at the age of nine.[16][17] Kaveh is the oldest in his friend group with Alhaitham, Tighnari, and Cyno.[13] While he is two years older than Alhaitham, the exact age difference between him, Tighnari, and Cyno is unknown. Kaveh has inherited multiple notable traits from both of his parents: Both his parents are blond, like himself.[13] According to Zaha Hadi, Kaveh takes after his mother in looks and in aspects of personality (specifically, being awkward). Kaveh also shared her interest in architecture and followed her path of being an architect. Kaveh notes his resemblance to his father in terms of personality and ideology, which is reinforced by Sachin during A Parade of Providence. Kaveh uses Makhaira Aquamarine in his official character demo. Kaveh appears to be ambidextrous with a preference for his left hand: Kaveh uses Mehrak with both hands, beginning with his left, but switching to his right during his third Normal Attack and his Elemental Burst Painted Dome. He also performs his plunge attack right-handedly. In the event cutscene of Event Story Quest To Claim the Crown in A Parade of Providence: Act III - Gatherings and Partings, Kaveh grabs Faruzan's mechanism with his right hand, and is later seen doing the same with the Diadem of Knowledge. An official Paimon's Paintings emoji of Kaveh depicts him drawing with his left hand, but he is later depicted drafting a blueprint with his right hand in his 2023 birthday illustration. In his Hangout Event, Kaveh uses both hands for different gesture animations, but uses his left hand more. While it is not mentioned in his Character Stories, Kaveh has previously worked as a lecturer: Sasani mentions that he taught an architectural elective at the Akademiya before she enrolled. In a bulletin argument, Alhaitham also mentions Kaveh receiving a stipend from the Akademiya, likely alluding to his job teaching there. During Treasure and True Interest in Hangout Event: Kaveh: Act I - The Pendulum of Weal and Woe, Kaveh mentions that he has hosted free lectures in the past. He can also become a lecturer independent of the Akademiya in this Hangout Event Branch. In the caption of his 2023 Birthday art, he alludes to himself being a visiting professor at the Akademiya. The taglines in the Chinese character introductions for Alhaitham (Chinese: 学识、思考及处事之道; English: The art of learning, thinking, and doing) and Kaveh (Chinese: 体悟、仁爱与识美之知; English: Knowledge of comprehension, benevolence, and aesthetics) appear to form a duilian couplet, but lack an inverse tone pattern which is required for a traditional duilian. Kaveh was one of the past visitors of Idyia's Veluriyam Mirage Domain, and he was responsible for redesigning many of the buildings.[18] Kaveh may have also inspired the character Miraculous Architect from the play Skycastle Saviors, which the Traveler and Paimon listen to in the Event Quest of the same name.[19] Kaveh is mentioned in the description of the following Furnishing: "Monthly Frustration-Be-Gone" "Monthly Frustration-Be-Gone" Etymology Kaveh (Persian: کاوه) is a name of Persian origin which is used as both a given name and a surname. One famous figure with this name is Kaveh the Blacksmith, a figure recorded in the Shahnamah who led an uprising against the evil king Zahhak, also known in Avestan as Azhi Dahāka and was the inspiration for Azhdaha. Notes Although Alhaitham's English voice-lines say Kaveh tends to be overly sensitive about everyone, the definition of sensitive in here is more close to "displaying a quick and delicate appreciation of others' feelings" rather than "getting easily offended, or upset" as in original Chinese voice-lines describe him as being too considerate or thoughtful of others.

.

ALHAITHAM

The current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya, a man endowed with extraordinary intelligence and talent. He lives free — free from the searching eyes of ordinary people, anyway.

Alhaitham is a scholar who is fueled by a desire to understand the underlying principles of the world around him. He greatly values the pursuit of knowledge and dislikes meaningless noise and matters that distract or divert him from his chosen pursuits. To this end, while he is unambitious and enjoys leisure, he will do what he deems necessary to maintain a comfortable life. As a result, he is not fond of being a leader, refusing the position of Grand Sage and when thrust upon the position of Acting Grand Sage, expresses an intent to resign as soon as possible.

Alhaitham focuses greatly on himself at all times. However, he does not do so out of a disregard for others; instead, it is a result of his rationality. For example, he believes that as it is impossible to save everyone, it is important to focus on one's own well-being first. As a result, he frequently squabbles with Kaveh due to their contrasting ideals and personalities. Contrary to what his peers think, Alhaitham does not look down upon anyone and tends to give equal weight to everyone, be they human or god. He also places great importance in the value of humanity and has astute insight into human nature. While he does not keep this a secret, he rarely bothers to correct others' unfavorable assumptions unless it would prove more troublesome to allow them to persist.

Appearance Alhaitham uses the tall male model. He has pale skin, gray hair that turns lighter at the ends and with a few locks that have pale turquoise undersides, and light turquoise eyes with orange-ringed yellow pupils. He wears a pair of gold and green headphones, plugged into his custom music player.

The art of learning, thinking, and doing I can't deny that he's very smart. However, it's a shame that a man of such talent only pays attention to the truth itself and not to the people around him. Or perhaps this is due to an extraordinary sense of individualism, which causes a lot of problems. For example, he doesn't seem to respect his seniors... Of course, I'm not referring to myself specifically. —Kaveh

The current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya. This title may sound very impressive, but it's really because the Akademiya has a culture of using official titles to inflate one's ego.

The role of a scribe may seem prestigious, but the truth is, a scribe does not have to be present at all major meetings, nor does he participate in core decision-making. The scribe is simply responsible for classifying and archiving important documents, and his presence is not required at all times. It is for these exact reasons that in Sumeru, where books and manuscript documents were once managed as a resource, the scribe is one of the people in the entire Akademiya who is in the know about various matters. In fact, one can say that this position is rather similar to that of the Grand Conservator. After all, the person who manages the various texts is the one who has privileged access to profound wisdom. Alhaitham, the current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya checks all the boxes above. Not many people know who he is, but he knows a lot of information that is unknown to everyone. He does not attend any non-essential meeting, and when he does, he only records key points, jotting down other minute details based on his mood. People don't often pay attention to him, let alone know how much detail this scribe can detect in a simple meeting.

A capable person who keeps a low profile for too long is often perceived as someone with a mysterious identity and ulterior purposes. Alhaitham himself is a powerful rebuttal to all these cliché views: he is a brilliant man, but he is only an ordinary employee of the Akademiya, with a stable job and a cushy house in Sumeru, leading a carefree and comfortable life.

Character Stories Character Details A capable person who keeps a low profile for too long is often perceived as someone with a mysterious identity and ulterior purposes. Alhaitham himself is a powerful rebuttal to all these cliché views: He is a brilliant man, but he is only an ordinary employee of the Akademiya, with a stable job and a cushy house in Sumeru, leading a carefree and comfortable life.

Sometimes, people find it next to impossible to catch the current scribe in his office. Little do they know about the scribe, other than his name, "Alhaitham," and that he is supposed to be present during work hours. The fact is, no one knows his whereabouts, and all they can do is leave documents and files on his desk.

Alhaitham couldn't be more satisfied with how things are. The man might be at home or in the library, but he'll never appear where people wish him to be.

Having an entirely unpredictable schedule affords undisturbed freedom.

Character Story 1 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 2

The title of a "scribe" may sound impressive to most Akademiya students, but this fancy name is just a product of the Akademiya's culture to use unnecessarily high-flown titles.

In truth, the scribe does not have to be present at all major meetings, nor does he participate in core decision-making. The scribe is simply responsible for classifying and archiving important documents. However, in Sumeru, where books and manuscript documents were once managed as a resource, the scribe is one of the most "in-the-know" people in the entire Akademiya. One can say that this position is rather similar to that of the Grand Conservator — after all, the person who manages texts will have privileged access to profound wisdom.

As the current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya, Alhaitham acts in perfect compliance with his role: He does not attend any non-essential meetings, and when he is required to be present, he only records key points, jotting down other minute details based on his mood. If the meeting does not affect his personal interests or fails to pique his curiosity, he will not be bothered to give any comments. He does make comments, however, when someone has come up with something offensively foolish — and one should expect these comments to be more blunt than necessary.

Such is Alhaitham's life philosophy: Whenever the need for his judgment arises, one must be ready to accept any means and privileges he might require to make that judgment. Fortunately for everyone, Alhaitham notes that he is too lazy to possess too many ambitions.

All scholars seek knowledge and the truth. Some do so for fame, while others, for ambition. And some others enjoy conquering knowledge and the truth, transcending them, and savoring the sense of superiority in the process. Alhaitham isn't any one of them. He is only driven by what intrigues him. He believes that many scholars have already become lost in their pursuits, taking the truth as a tool or even a shortcut to self-realization.

However, whether one seeks it or not, the truth is always there, hanging high above the sky like an illuminating star. It is not the end of a trip or the destination of a match. It is and shall remain constant, regardless of human existence. Also, human pursuits will not simply end after certain knowledge has been acquired — though people never doubt that they can claim the fruit with joy and are prepared to sacrifice everything for it, their desire for knowledge will keep them going.

Those who fail to see through the truth set themselves on an endless path, while those with clear minds will say: The truth did not come into being to serve anyone, and whoever is unable to harness their desire for knowledge will be destroyed by it. Such is the rule of the Nation of Wisdom. Of course, if you want to blend in, you are welcome to fake such a posture.

Character Story 2 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 3 • UI Quest The Illusions of the Mob

To the people of Sumeru, those who played a part in the operation to save Lesser Lord Kusanali are deemed to be heroes. However, a great many who make such compliments don't really know the full story. They simply repeat a fragment of a tale that they find inspiring. As one of the protagonists in their stories, Alhaitham has no opinion whatsoever about being a "hero," nor does he believe that these stories are worth talking about.

Meanwhile, Alhaitham has declined the Akademiya's offer to become the Grand Sage multiple times. But given the chaos in Sumeru, Alhaitham eventually agreed to serve as Acting Grand Sage temporarily.

It already defied common logic for someone to refuse the titles of Sage and Grand Sage, and yet Alhaitham went further still, resigning and returning to his humble role as Scribe at the agreed-upon time instead of clinging to power.

If he did manage to gain anything from it at all, it was the financial benefits: His salary stayed the same after his resignation, not to mention the several high-quality research projects that he was able to complete on his own. There is no doubt, then, that he will lead a well-off life. In addition, his interpersonal relationships have also improved, as he has more or less befriended the other participants in the archon-saving operation — they have gotten close to the point where Alhaitham might greet these people with a nod or two when he sees them.

Sometimes, Lesser Lord Kusanali will also invite Alhaitham to the Sanctuary of Surasthana to discuss various matters. He has met many people there: the General Mahamatra Cyno, the mercenary Dehya, and Nilou, star of the Zubayr Theater. Nilou even once asked him: "How did you manage to come up with such a bold plan? When I think back on it, we were all quite lucky to not get hurt..."

Nilou hesitated before she continued, and Alhaitham understood her confusion, for anyone would have wondered how he could have stayed unscathed despite the influence of the Divine Knowledge Capsule. But in Alhaitham's eyes, he was never in danger, for he had never used any capsules.

As for how he had managed to do that, it was all thanks to his role as the scribe. As a scholar lucky enough to have read the Akasha's system manual, he had studied the headset and Canned Knowledge, such that he knew how to alter the status signal of the Akasha. He had even once thought of reversing the holographic shield of the Akasha Terminal and projecting it to the back of his head to offer protection from attacks on that front.

It has been proven that a plan lays the foundation for everything, and that prior research lays the foundation for a plan. Alhaitham, who had no interest in boasting about how he remained unscathed, answered Nilou's question with another: "As far as I know, Cyno and Dehya are also curious about this, yet you are the only one who has raised this question. Were they just too shy to ask me themselves?"

Character Story 3 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 4

Alhaitham seldom discusses personalities or dispositions with others. He believes that the prevalent theories about them are wrong. Suppose someone insists that one's character has nothing to do with their abilities and opinions, the person with such a view will find themselves unable to judge any aspect of another person. A smart person will often hold different attitudes towards a foolish person and another smart person, and the foolish often think differently when facing success and failure. People's views on Alhaitham are proof of this point — given his superb talents and egocentric personality, no one wants to get too close to him, but still, they see him as an outstanding scholar.

This is exactly the public image Alhaitham desires. Many scholars are rigid and inflexible, but Alhaitham is not one of them. As a matter of fact, his occasional sarcasm in part reflects his philosophy. Society (or the collective) relies on rules to regulate individuals, and language is one of these regulative tools. Turning language against its original design serves to challenge unreasonable rules, and one can thus stay out of trouble.

The word "talented" is abused within the Akademiya, and so are "born differently," "touched by the archon," and such... In Sumeru, one's talents are a trial. Outstanding talent is not necessarily seen as a perfect gift, but it also divides people. For instance, to compliment someone with unimaginable achievements, ordinary folk often call them a "genius," or "superhuman," or a "prodigy"... But upon reflection, one will soon notice another layer of meaning that even the speakers themselves have not realized: That the talented and the ordinary are categorically different.

If someone is capable of things that others aren't, they must have been endowed with some special abilities and gifts. Excessive compliments for and wild imagination regarding outstanding people only serve to alienate them. "They are successful because they are different" — such is the typical excuse favored by underachievers. These ignorant notions mean nothing to Alhaitham. Though he does know his way around people, he will not waste his time on such trivial matters.

Rules define borders and set limits. Yet these rules should not be judged solely on the number of people they limit. Therefore, Alhaitham has come up with his own set of rules with which he perceives everything and challenges the world. It is the crystallization of his philosophy. To maintain these rules of his own fashioning, Alhaitham acts on his own will and deals with anything that appears harmful in his eyes.

Only with objective judgment can one see the truth. By acknowledging the differences between individuals and recognizing differing levels of capabilities and mental capacities, one will discover the answer right away: Judgment from others is inconsequential, but to leave the right of judgment in others' hands is equal to denying oneself. To be "different" should not simply be a label given to you by others. Rather, the talented should have long understood that their uniqueness is also a gift.

To put it another way, when a talented person truly understands that they are different and that they are indisputably ingenious, only then can they truly understand the value of their abilities. And as for cowards who remain blinded by perspectives advocated by the great majority, they have not yet found their true selves.

Character Story 4 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 5

To live a peaceful and comfortable life, one must meet a few requirements first: Congruous personality and logic, adequate fighting prowess, a slow-paced job, and a cushy house in the vicinity of one's office.

Alhaitham has checked all the boxes above. He would never deny that no place suits him better than the Nation of Wisdom, where social capital is linked to one's academic abilities.

His current house, which is located near the Akademiya, is one of the academic resources that he gained through promising research projects. This house's story dates back to Alhaitham's student years. If his classmates still remember him, they will recall that he was not one to mingle with the crowd. As a result, he has only participated in one joint research project. Despite its eventual success, the project resulted in a huge quarrel and a parting of ways. Little do people know about Alhaitham's part in this story, though they might be acquainted with the other protagonist: The Kshahrewar architect Kaveh.

This academic incident is not very widely-known — and in truth, the tale of two geniuses falling out due to differing perspectives is an all-too-familiar one in the Akademiya. But even though their collaboration did fall through, neither of them will deny the other party's exceptional brilliance. As for their research, the Akademiya would later transfer the relevant assets to the researchers involved as per regulation.

Although the two did not continue that research, its great success in the early stage still serves as compelling proof of Alhaitham's academic ability. Later, the Akademiya even used this project, which they had forgotten to cancel, as a reference for allocating housing resources, and as such, Alhaitham was given a very decent house befitting his participation in this ingenious project. But the other contributor, Kaveh, had never approached Alhaitham regarding that allocation. It wasn't until later that Kaveh had someone inform Alhaitham and the Akademiya that he was not in want of a house and thus had no use of this property.

When next they met, Kaveh had gone bankrupt. According to Alhaitham, this former friend of his possesses a personality and values that are not congruous with his abilities. The two differ on too many things and cannot reach a consensus even today.

Allowing Kaveh to stay in this house provides Alhaitham with an interesting research topic: Legally and socially speaking, since Kaveh has previously forfeited the right to his half of this house, he should pay the landlord during his stay. However, paying rent would, to some extent, deny his contribution to the research, which contradicts the academic spirit.

An intriguing matter to consider, but Alhaitham has no interest in the answer. Thus, he has taken his broke former colleague in, collects rent as the rightful landlord, and gives his colleague some household chores. He is well aware of the dissatisfaction Kaveh might have, but it matters not to him. As far as Alhaitham is concerned, Kaveh is a familiar face, similarly lacks familial attachments, and is the polar opposite of himself as a scholar — that is to say, an excellent mirror. Human vision is limited, but it can be perfected through the presence of another genius. Taking this opportunity, Alhaitham will be able to observe other aspects of this world and thus understand more things that may have otherwise been unfathomable.

Character Story 5 Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 6

The Nation of Wisdom places academics and knowledge above everything else. As such, a scholar acknowledged by others within the Akademiya usually possesses a higher social status. Alhaitham was born to just such a family of well-received scholars. His parents died very early in an accident, and he was raised by his grandmother, a Kshahrewar scholar.

Alhaitham doesn't have many recollections of his parents. He learned from his grandmother that they were both employed by the Akademiya, with his father being a mentor in Haravatat and his mother, a renowned scholar in Vahumana.

Alhaitham has inherited his parents' intelligence, and he was always the sharp kid amongst his peers, so much so that he started reading abstruse academic journals at around the age of seven. Having noticed his exceptional talents, Alhaitham's grandmother suggested that he attend school early. However, it only took half a day in the Akademiya for little Alhaitham to report this back to his grandmother: Everyone he met there was boring and he preferred reading alone to listening to their meaningless courses. Alhaitham's grandmother saw his parents' talents and personalities in him, and agreed to let him stay home to be self-taught.

To Alhaitham, "to be self-taught" means to read, break down, reorganize, and question. Due to his family background, he was lucky to be exposed to books made of paper. Interestingly enough, he takes more pleasure in reading his grandmother's hard-copy collections than obtaining knowledge from the Akasha directly.

As opposed to the Akasha, books are inflexible and rigid, and there is no guarantee that their contents are error-free either. To use such a medium of knowledge is to dance with potential misinformation. The majority of people in Sumeru hate this, but Alhaitham derives great enjoyment from it. It was from reading that he acquired the ability to learn, analyze, and even rectify, and ultimately, he has learned to question. If the rustic and primitive method known as reading is ever any trouble, it is trouble that Alhaitham appreciates.

Alhaitham's grandmother told him: "You and your father both like reading. Now, I can't say if the two of you have been given too much share of wisdom or not, but always remember that being different is a gift."

Knowledge is to be recognized, pursued, and trusted, but one should never forget to question it. Perhaps only those who come to such an understanding will not be easily moved by Canned Knowledge and other convenient knowledge media. And only someone who had already met these prerequisites would have casually read the Akasha manual sealed deep within the House of Daena.

As Alhaitham's grandmother had said, books contain useless information, and sometimes in large amounts, but his sharp mind will sift through them — and if a book he has read lingers in his memory, it will come in handy one day.

After his grandmother's passing, Alhaitham managed her funeral on his own, inheriting her properties and her small library. Before she passed away, Alhaitham's grandmother gave him this earnest blessing: "You are such a smart child. Many such people have large egos and a propensity to act on their own. You are outstanding and possess a broader horizon than ordinary people. This is not a bad thing, but you must take care to have a clearer mind than others. You must understand that vain pursuits are but dust, and that you must discern your path with the greatest of wisdom."

Later, Alhaitham applied for the Akademiya and was immediately admitted, scoring high marks in the Haravatat entrance exam. He was informed that his grandmother had also applied for him to be able to attend classes in other Darshans. Following his late grandmother's advice, Alhaitham has always kept a low profile and a clear mind, and always makes decisions for himself.

Years later, when Alhaitham moved into his new house, he brought all those books over. While sorting through them, he flipped through a few that he had read long ago. The journals that had well-wishes written on their title pages were from his mother's collection, and the ones with reference materials inserted between pages and notes on the margins had once belonged to his father. On top of them, there was a thick book with an exquisite, emerald-colored cover. On the title page, his grandmother had written thus: May my child Alhaitham lead a peaceful life.

The Doer's Belt Pouch Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 4

A sturdy and durable green belt pouch.

People often mistake it for a wide belt, an impression perhaps reinforced by its color being in perfect harmony with Alhaitham's outfit.

There are only a few things in this pouch: Keys, some recent read of Alhaitham's, and a portable music player that goes with his headphones.

Alhaitham personally made the music player when he first became the scribe, and it is connected to the headphones via cables of the same color. He sometimes uses the gadget to play music, and other times, to block noise.

Vision Item Companionship EXP Friendship Lv. 6

"The value of language is not limited to words. A unified language helps to govern thoughts. Language is the bottom line, rules, weapons, and violence. By making our language unique, we can open up a special path to the relative completion of minds.

Governing thoughts may appear meaningless to some, but to others, it has a very significant meaning. Individuals' pursuit of uniqueness gives rise to various languages and media. People are controlled by language under many circumstances."

As Alhaitham flipped through these pages, reaching the end of the book and its back cover, he realized that an intricate ornament had been underneath the tome this whole time.

Of course, he knew what it was — a Vision, the proof of one's power. However, this item did not mean much to him.

A believer might have perceived this divine item to be a thing most lofty, but to him, it was no more than a useful tool.

Alhaitham was out on a research trip when he was given the Vision.

He didn't plan to dwell too much on it. It belonged to him, after all, so what difference would it make if he checked on it tomorrow, as opposed to today?

And just like the knowledge he has acquired, what he has obtained shall always remain in his possession.

.

Tropes • Academic Rivals[explanation needed] • Belligerent Sexual Tension[explanation needed] • Emotions vs. Stoicism — Al Haitham is reversed and stoic while Kaveh is emotional and expressive and that causes them to clash a lot which usually leads them to bicker as a result. • Enemies to Lovers[explanation needed] • Friends to Lovers — They are former best friends. • Like an Old Married Couple — They usually bicker with each other. • Opposites Attract — Al Haitham is introverted, calm, stoic, reserved and logical while Kaveh is extroverted, emotional, expressive and artsy. • Roommates[explanation needed] — They are roommates. • Slap Slap Kiss[explanation needed]

Canon I can't deny that he's very smart. However, it's a shame that a man of such talent only pays attention to the truth itself and not to the people around him. Or perhaps this is due to an extraordinary sense of individualism, which causes a lot of problems. For example, he doesn't seem to respect his seniors... Of course, I'm not referring to myself specifically. -Kaveh in Alhaitham's Official Introduction.[1]

Mainstream Sumeru academia tends to hide a certain fact from time to time, which is that for some people, talent can occasionally be more of a burden instead. Nevertheless, this view can also be but an excuse. In truth, it is your character that determines your destiny first and foremost. The aforementioned ideas are the sort that Kaveh will persistently rebut. -Alhaitham in Kaveh's Official Introduction.[2]

Alhaitham and Kaveh are both playable characters. They are frequently mentioned throughout character voicelines and Sumeru bulletin boards. The two first met in the House of Daena, and Kaveh had taken interest in his outstanding junior. The two were best friends before walking separate paths after a major quarrel during a large research project. Both Kaveh and Alhaitham graduated from Sumeru Akademiya, Kaveh graduating from the Kshahrewar Darshan while Alhaitham from the Haravatat Darshan. Alhaitham is still a member of this Darshan, and is responsible for documenting their findings and drafting ordinances. Kaveh is a renowned architect and independent contractor who occasionally serves as a visiting professor at the Akademiya and receives subsidies as a result. Despite being a Kshahrewar alumnus, Kaveh is still identified as the Darshan's representative and touts his association with them, which leads to him introducing himself and being introduced as someone that is from the Akademiya. As well, when referring to the Kshahrewar, he at times will use "we." In official media, he is occasionally seen at the Akademiya with what appear to be his students. When Kaveh is a visiting professor at the Akademiya, Alhaitham and Kaveh can be considered coworkers.

After Kaveh sold his family house and went bankrupt because of his dedication to completing his magnum opus, Alhaitham offered him residence. According to the Sumeru bulletin boards, Alhaitham sometimes handles Kaveh's additional fees, such as alcohol fees. According to Sethos's voiceline about the two, as well as based on multiple NPCs' sightings of them, they now regularly hang out whether in the cafe, the tavern, or the Grand Bazaar.

Alhaitham is only interested in studying whatever interests him, having forgone ownership of a supposed Divine Knowledge Capsule to simply study it. He also operates purely by rationality, which many people tend to find unacceptable, especially Kaveh, who is extremely fed up with him. In contrast, Kaveh operates by what he feels is right. He is a stark defender of the arts and believes that helping others is a natural course of action. This contrast has served as an important defining trait to both their characterization, backstories, and relationship, in which they are notably the exact opposite, or mirrors, of one another. Several playable characters and NPCs mention their arguments, and their intense disagreements are such that they even bleed into messages on bulletin boards across Sumeru City and Port Ormos. Messages between Alhaitham and Kaveh can be read in the Mahamata Bulletin Board, Puspa Café Message Board, and the Port Ormos Bulletin Board.

Kaveh's character trailer briefly shows Alhaitham in the beginning along with the other Sumeru characters. Alhaitham is first shown as a silhouette; the scene transitions to a side-by-side contrast of Alhaitham walking towards the Akademiya in a dark background with no people while Kaveh is running towards the Akademiya in a lighter background with people. The scene ends with the silhouette of Kaveh, establishing the concept of reflection and how the two characters are mirrors of one another.

Alhaitham’s character trailer features Kaveh, Cyno, and Tighnari gossiping about him in Lambad's Tavern. Kaveh starts off the video by continuing a conversation between the group about how Alhaitham called himself a "feeble scholar," stating that it was a bold-faced lie and proceeding to ask with interest how strong Alhaitham is, before asking Cyno whether Alhaitham is stronger than him. Later, Kaveh pointed out how he met Alhaitham during his desert expedition, wondering why Alhaitham didn't travel with him instead when it could have halved the traveling costs. Alhaitham eventually arrived to the tavern, looking over at Kaveh before he overhears what the group is discussing. His gaze lingers as he sits down next to Kaveh, and Kaveh finishes off the conversation by pointing out people should not mess with his roommate no matter how strong he is. Alhaitham tells him that he should have learned to think before he spoke and reveals that he came to the tavern because Kaveh had dragged him there, to which Kaveh replies defensively that the gossip about him had all been positive. When Alhaitham tried to provide an explanation to the confusion regarding how he referred himself as a "feeble scholar," Cyno and Tighnari both expressed confusion by the end of his philosophical lecture while Kaveh sighs that he should never have brought up the topic with Alhaitham. By the end of the video, Alhaitham comments on the wine being good and that he'll have a cup. However, there are only three goblets on the table for the other three people, respectively. It is speculated that Alhaitham may have drank and tasted the wine from Kaveh's cup, especially when it was confirmed in 3.6 flagship event A Parade of Providence that Alhaitham sometimes took Kaveh's beer without permission. However, it is also possible that he knew the quality of the wine because he frequently visits the tavern with Kaveh according to the in-game message boards and dialogue. Alhaitham and Kaveh’s character themes have similar leitmotifs.

In-game, the two share matching idles, of which is also the first occasion where two characters have matching idles[3]. Alhaitham's second idle features him pulling out house keys, initially surprised that Kaveh's is accidentally hooked onto his, then shrugs as he put it back. In Chinese, Japanese and Korean, Alhaitham stares at the keys and lets out an irritated “Tch!” while in English, Alhaitham mutters a surprised "Wait, huh? Oh... Eh... Mmm, whatever." Zooming in on the animation shows him briefly smiling while examining the keys. Kaveh's second idle features him searching for something in his belt, panicking when he realized it isn't there, then looking to the ground, disheartened.

Monthly-Frustration-Be-Gone's description, Kaveh's complaint about Alhaitham stealing his beer, and Kaveh's Hangout story all suggest that Kaveh has the money to buy his own wine but expects Alhaitham to buy him drinks anyway. Interestingly, in both A Parade of Providence and Kaveh's Hangout, Kaveh expresses regret that he sometimes relies on Tighnari for meals and also declines Cyno's offer to help him, but has no problem relying on Alhaitham, emphasizing how much closer they are in contrast to his other friends. In Alhaitham's 2024 birthday official medium, it is confirmed that Alhaitham treats Kaveh with drinks.

There are multiple contrasts in their letters, such as their mirroring birthday letter titles — Alhaitham's 2023 birthday letter being titled "..." while Kaveh's 2023 birthday letter being titled "!!!". Neither mention their birthdays but instead give the Traveler advice on various topics; in Alhaitham's letter, Alhaitham advises the Traveler to go to the House of Daena with Paimon to encourage the latter to read more, whereas in Kaveh's letter, Kaveh sends the Traveler coffee beans and wishes them well on their journey. In Alhaitham's 2024 birthday letter, his birthday letter title is still "...", while Kaveh's 2024 birthday letter title is "??". They are the only characters whom use punctuations as birthday titles. Alhaitham's 2025 birthday title is yet again "...", and Kaveh's 2025 birthday letter is once again being titled "!!!".

Both of their 2023 birthday art take place in Alhaitham's house, with Alhaitham's taking place during the day and Kaveh's appearing to be during the night, and with Alhaitham sleeping and Kaveh awake working on a blueprint. The captions for the birthday art also imply that Kaveh let the Traveler into the house on Alhaitham's birthday, while Alhaitham likely let the Traveler in on Kaveh's. In Kaveh's letter, Kaveh mentions tasting various coffees with someone at home in order to find the best tasting one to send to the Traveler. The individual is not identified by name, and the use of "we" could imply that it was Alhaitham, who had mentioned coffee twice previously, or his friend group.

In their 2024 birthday medium, more interactions with Kaveh were presented in Alhaitham's birthday art. In Taking Pictures and Recounting Good Times (a CN-exclusive web event series celebrating character birthdays), Traveler and Paimon coincidentally met him during his lunch break, stating that they had thought to meet up with Alhaitham. Alhaitham replied that they could meet up at Lambad's Tavern in the night if they wanted to hang out, but that they have to leave an extra seat for "someone [who] forgot their keys". The picture featured on the web event shows Alhaitham drinking tea, with a book and Kaveh's keys on the table, signifying that Alhaitham would treat Kaveh to a drink in the night. Following up in Alhaitham's 2024 birthday shorts, Alhaitham was shown thinking about Kaveh, Nahida, Nilou, Tighnari, and Cyno, smiling. Alhaitham stated that he didn't think birthday wishes were necessary, but he didn't see a need to disappoint the group. Finally, in Alhaitham's 2024 birthday art, Alhaitham was shown in Lambad's Tavern. Kaveh was indirectly stated to already be present while Alhaitham was waiting for Cyno and Tighnari. Alhaitham told Traveler in the caption that whenever something calls for a celebration, Alhaitham, Kaveh, Cyno, and Tighnari would always meet up at the tavern.

In the CN version of Kaveh's birthday post, he asks the Traveler "怎么到我们家来了?" ("why did you come to our home?"). This detail is omitted in the English version of Kaveh's birthday post.

In their 2025 birthday medium, Alhaitham's birthday Calendar description in CN shows a written scene in which Alhaitham is standing outside his home, listening in to Kaveh, Tighnari, and Cyno planning a birthday surprise for him inside the house. The three discussed excitedly, unknowing of how Alhaitham knew of the birthday plan all along. Alhaitham had remarked that as expected, social events weren't necessities.

In the short description of their splash art / TCG descriptions, CN Genshin forms a Chinese duìlián when put together.

Alhaitham: 学识, 思考及处事之道 (Knowledge, Contemplation, and Way of Comportment) Kaveh: 体悟, 仁爱与识美之知 (Empathy, Compassion, and Understanding of Beauty)

The English version translated of these texts slightly differently, swapping Alhaitham and Kaveh’s areas of expertise with each other while describing them.

Alhaitham: The art of learning, thinking, and doing Kaveh: The knowledge of comprehension, benevolence, and aesthetics

In the web event "Starlight Reverie", Kaveh and Alhaitham appear together as Traveler recounts all the experiences the latter have had in Teyvat. In the short, Kaveh had been angry at Alhaitham, who was studying him.

There is an upcoming collab between Genshin and KFC in June that features Alhaitham and Kaveh as its main stars, the two appearing together in new, theatrical outfits. The title of the collaboration is called K's Man, and it sports a large amount of merch of Alhaitham and Kaveh together, including chibis, key visuals, cards, pins, a Haitham/Kaveh-themed in-game pet gadget, and an in-game namecard of the two together. This collab marks the very first time a Genshin collab featured two tall male characters and a namecard of two playable characters! In the description of the KavethKavetham name card, it is widely implied that they had walzed together at some point.

Kaveh's Character Stories The following is directly copied from Kaveh's Character Stories, which elaborate on the story behind Kaveh and Alhaitham's relationship from Kaveh's perspective.

Kaveh's Character Story 3 (Mention) "[...] At the same time, academic trends in Sumeru were disrupting his work. He began to realize that his ideals and career goals were, as a certain someone had said, not easily attainable."

Kaveh's Character Story 5 "After going bankrupt, Kaveh entered into a period of melancholy. The Palace of Alcazarzaray had ever so briefly filled the hole in his heart that had been ripped open by so many things, but it had also proved to him once again that no matter what he gave to attain his ideals, it wasn't enough. He was now directionless, and enmeshed in a world where he could not go anywhere without Mora. And yet he was accustomed since his youth to putting on a brave front, and so Kaveh was unwilling to let his colleagues and friends know that he was nigh penniless even after selling all he owned, and so he went to a tavern, where he would order a few bottles and chat to comfort himself. One bottle later, he would collapse at the table, only to wake up in the exact same position afterward.

Lambad, the tavern owner, had reserved a seat and a few free drinks for him out of kindness, and as thanks, Kaveh helped him redesign and refit the booth seating area of the tavern's second floor. He would occasionally meet friends from his Akademiya schooling days, and with them he would pretend that he was just here to drink and gather inspiration. He would spend over a fortnight in this manner, during which he would encounter that friend that he no longer called "friend." When discussing Kaveh's old friends, the current Akademiya Scribe, Alhaitham of Haravatat, will invariably get mentioned. Alhaitham enrolled at a later date than most of those his age, but his grades stood out above the rest. People didn't know who he was or where to find him normally, only that he was some student who had gotten high marks. And when his name was mentioned, even the old researchers from Kshahrewar would shake their heads and say that he was too intelligent by half and hard to get along with.

At that time, Kaveh had just parted ways with his mother and was living alone. He would meet this junior student in the library at times, and would speak to him out of curiosity, and thus did he meet the Haravatat genius Alhaitham. But time would go on to prove that wishful thinking alone does not friends make. For Kaveh quickly realized that Alhaitham, though two years his junior and admittedly both extremely talented and incredibly gifted, was also utterly different from him, whether it be in personality, dealing with people, academic direction, and convictions.

Kaveh's time in school would leave him with a great many memories, the least pleasant of which is the group project they undertook together. Each recognized the other's ability, and they decided to conduct research regarding ancient structures, ancient runes, and linguistics, with Kaveh suggesting that Alhaitham be the one responsible for selecting the topic. At first, others would take also take part in the cooperative project, but as the work progressed, the other students dropped out gradually as they could not keep up. That was the first time Kaveh realized the brutal and all-too-intuitive difference in talent between individuals. The Akademiya linked talent and resources to an extreme degree, and all here knew that. As Alhaitham liked to put it, certain matters have their upper limit determined by talent and their lower bound determined by hard work. Ordinary people and geniuses would be separated by various practical realities, and they did not have to force themselves to fit into a group they did not belong to. Kaveh, however, was resolute in his belief that this was all the result of obstacles that appeared during the process, and that wisdom should be uncovered by many people. To prevent the other students from backing out, Kaveh spent much time and effort helping them with their work, placing a great burden on his own shoulders. Alhaitham persisted in upholding the opposite view, believing Kaveh to be too idealistic in his ways — academia was not charity work, and temporary salvation would not change the reality of their differences in ability. Thus did discord arise between the two.

Finally, the day came when only two people remained working on the topic: Alhaitham and Kaveh. The disputes between them accumulated to a critical mass before exploding spectacularly. Kaveh maintained that Alhaitham was too much of an egoist, that he could be much better welcomed amongst people if he would just care about helping out more often. Alhaitham for his part pointed out that Kaveh's impractical idealism was just a flight from reality, and that it would come to be a burden on his existence someday, and the source of Kaveh's altruism was naught but his inescapable sense of guilt. At that moment, more than anything else, Kaveh felt cut to the quick by someone who was his best friend. Alhaitham had seen through the reality that he had never been able to face, causing him to feel reality's bite for the first time, a feeling that made Kaveh steadfastly declare that he regretted making friends with this all-too-intelligent person.

The two parted ways in a single stroke. Alhaitham would remove his name from that thesis, while Kaveh would rip his copy of the thesis apart in a fury — only to put it back together with deep regret. He sensed that he would not be able to change his friend, with the reverse also being true.

Afterwards, the two would later clash in academic journals several times, each criticizing the other's perspective. Before this, the "Decoding the Runes and Architectural Philosophy of the Ruins of King Deshret's Civilization" had made great progress. Its fruits on the linguistics front had filled various gaps in the grammatical logic of some ancient minor languages, allowing for the successful interpretation of many important texts. Similarly, the results achieved in architectural studies had successfully improved the load-bearing structures for some special terrain features in Sumeru, which greatly improved the lives of those living in remote regions. To encourage the project, the Akademiya had even specially designated a research site for its use. Unfortunately, lacking manpower and a united vision on the part of its primary researchers, it eventually ground to a halt.

This failed project became an unavoidable part of Kaveh's past. As the years passed, and he was beaten back by reality time and time again, Kaveh was forced to admit that his persistence born of wishful thinking was not always useful. It was only when he was rendered penniless that he finally understood the deeper meaning behind his friend's past words. A person who wished to ascend to the garden of heaven upon steps made of thin air would inevitably plant their feet on an empty stair and fall to their death. As a genius, Kaveh longed to belong in a crowd, subconsciously fearing separation from it — this was the difference between him and Alhaitham.

Returning to the matter of that table in the tavern, Kaveh was deeply shocked to see Alhaitham, who was coincidentally present to purchase some alcohol, in this place. Alhaitham for his part could immediately tell that Kaveh was in a very bad way. Having been oppressed by life for too long, Kaveh completely unloaded all his woes onto his erstwhile friend right there and then. After all, there was nowhere to hide from his problems, so what use was concealing them in front of the one friend with whom he had fallen out so acrimoniously? He would lament about a great many misfortunes that had befallen him, only falling silent when they left the tavern in the dead of night, and his eyes fell upon a place in the distance that he once called home. Alhaitham, on the other hand, listened intently to Kaveh's words, and seeing through him once more, asked him a difficult question: "How has realizing your ideals gone for you?"

Only reality can force a researcher to admit that they were wrong, but Kaveh did not know what he should consider reality. He yearned for a fantasy so perfect and beautiful that none need flee it, even if the price of this dream was losing himself. He still firmly believed that his ideals were in themselves not mistaken, and that the fault lay only in the methods used to achieve them.

People should not give up, for even if they are doing good in an attempt to make up for something, the results will still have meaning for some. Even if he could not enter that promised land of his ideals, that did not mean the radiance and the attraction of such a realm should be denied.

As for those phantasm-like realities, like how he found his homeless self living his friend's house by happenstance, or how this house, now under the Scribe's name, had been converted from that same research center the Akademiya had offered them back in the day, or how this excess academic asset would not have been turned into a residence at all after numerous transactions, had Kaveh not resolved to give it up... Or how, knowing full well that Alhaitham never did perform a good deed unconditionally, Kaveh would be plagued by guilty conscience and proactively mention helping with household chores, only to become saddled with all the domestic errands... These might be an annoyance for someone at a low point in life, but they are also proof the most unshakable part of one's past is a friend that will never change. Rationality and sensibility, language and architecture, knowledge and human feelings... Things that can never be integrated are what constitute the two sides of the mirror — indeed, of the entire world."

Kaveh's Sketchbook "[...] Page 26: A topic application form. Postscript: 'A fine beginning. Such an intelligent collaborator is hard to come by.' Page 31: Some academic notes and architectural drawings. Postscript: 'Our views are aligned, and they are complete.' This line has been struck out. 'Our views are contradictory, but it is through contradiction that more speculation and philosophy may be born.' This line has been retained. Page 42: The cover of a thesis that has been torn up, then put together again. No postscript. Page 47: An excerpt from a school publication. The original title is unknown, and the preserved content is as follows: 'The selfish cannot understand wisdom's final destination. Though all of us might claim to have a place in this great hall of learning, we must understand that it is people, and not knowledge, that make our world what it is. Without a vessel, knowledge shall have no home. Universal values must naturally have some merit to be named such, and denying their general meaning does not mean that minority viewpoints will arise accordingly. This is the case with aesthetics. Beauty is something objective that exists in human hearts. It will not lose its value simply because some people cannot understand it. To view oneself as some mighty vessel is to fall to the narrowness of the researcher. Know that truth has never existed for the sake of individuals. The logic of the world coexists with nature, and this will not easily change whether it is interpreted as such or not. Excessive belief in the object is self-disclosure just the same, a manifestation of a lack of confidence in the subject. Moreover, one who is sufficiently self-confident will not need to constantly use plural forms of address, such as 'we.' I alone am sufficient to sustain this position — this I can assert.'" [...] "Page 112: Rent records. Postscript: 'I mean, I wouldn't call this a bad thing... But how did things turn out like this? That guy definitely wouldn't take me in for no reason and without expecting anything... But what could I possibly do for him?'"

Alhaitham's Character Story 4 The following is directly copied from Alhaitham's in-game Character Story 4, which elaborates on the story behind his cushy house and his perspective of his relationship with Kaveh.

"To live a peaceful and comfortable life, one must meet a few requirements first: Congruous personality and logic, adequate fighting prowess, a slow-paced job, and a cushy house in the vicinity of one's office.

Alhaitham has checked all the boxes above. He would never deny that no place suits him better than the Nation of Wisdom, where social capital is linked to one's academic abilities.

His current house, which is located near the Akademiya, is one of the academic resources that he gained through promising research projects. This house's story dates back to Alhaitham's student years. If his classmates still remember him, they will recall that he was not one to mingle with the crowd. As a result, he has only participated in one joint research project. Despite its eventual success, the project resulted in a huge quarrel and a parting of ways. Little do people know about Alhaitham's part in this story, though they might be acquainted with the other protagonist: The Kshahrewar architect Kaveh.

This academic incident is not very widely-known — and in truth, the tale of two geniuses falling out due to differing perspectives is an all-too-familiar one in the Akademiya. But even though their collaboration did fall through, neither of them will deny the other party's exceptional brilliance. As for their research, the Akademiya would later transfer the relevant assets to the researchers involved as per regulation.

Although the two did not continue that research, its great success in the early stage still serves as compelling proof of Alhaitham's academic ability. Later, the Akademiya even used this project, which they had forgotten to cancel, as a reference for allocating housing resources, and as such, Alhaitham was given a very decent house befitting his participation in this ingenious project. But the other contributor, Kaveh, had never approached Alhaitham regarding that allocation. It wasn't until later that Kaveh had someone inform Alhaitham and the Akademiya that he was not in want of a house and thus had no use of this property.

When next they met, Kaveh had gone bankrupt. According to Alhaitham, this former friend of his possesses a personality and values that are not congruous with his abilities. The two differ on too many things and cannot reach a consensus even today.

Allowing Kaveh to stay in this house provides Alhaitham with an interesting research topic: Legally and socially speaking, since Kaveh has previously forfeited the right to his half of this house, he should pay the landlord during his stay. However, paying rent would, to some extent, deny his contribution to the research, which contradicts the academic spirit.

An intriguing matter to consider, but Alhaitham has no interest in the answer. Thus, he has taken his broke former colleague in, collects rent as the rightful landlord, and gives his colleague some household chores. He is well aware of the dissatisfaction Kaveh might have, but it matters not to him. As far as Alhaitham is concerned, Kaveh is a familiar face, similarly lacks familial attachments, and is the polar opposite of himself as a scholar — that is to say, an excellent mirror. Human vision is limited, but it can be perfected through the presence of another genius. Taking this opportunity, Alhaitham will be able to observe other aspects of this world and thus understand more things that may have otherwise been unfathomable."

Alhaitham’s Home Alhaitham’s home is a domain that can be visited multiple ways, primarily through one of Kaveh's Hangout endings, which is replayable.

As explained in Alhaitham’s Character Story 4, the property initially belonged to both Alhaitham and Kaveh and was allocated to them by the Akademiya as a reward for their joint participation on a successful project. However, Kaveh eventually forfeited his share of the property, leaving Alhaitham as the sole owner. An unspecified amount of time later, Alhaitham would move Kaveh in with him after learning of the latter's bankruptcy and currently serves as his landlord. Neither Alhaitham nor Kaveh refer to Alhaitham as a landlord anywhere outside of Alhaitham's Character Story, instead choosing to refer to each other as the other's "roommate." This is consistent across all of Genshin Impact's translations.

In both the Chinese and English versions of the game, Kaveh frequently refers to the house with the term "home," such as in the Past Mementos quest during his Hangout, where the quest guide reads "Go home with Kaveh", or in his CN birthday post, where he refers to the area as "our home." In particular, CN Kaveh uses the term "家里," which is a casual way of saying "back home;" it differs from a term such as "屋子里" (in the place) or "房子里" (in the house) as "家里" specifies the home-like connection and is typically used in a familial setting. This is especially significant considering Kaveh's backstory, where he stated that he felt he no longer had a "home" — a warm place populated by the presence of a loving family.

Kaveh has openly expressed negative feelings about living with Alhaitham, such as in the event A Parade of Providence, where he competed in the Interdarshan Championship in part to use the prize mora to move out and buy a place. It's clear that he was genuinely excited to move, as his thoughts are reflected by Nahida's ability to read his mind. As well, an off-screen altercation with Alhaitham only fueled his desire to leave, and he started packing before the competition even ended, fed up with Alhaitham's attitude and becoming even more determined to win so he can move out.

While Kaveh has yet to verbally express that he is happy living with Alhaitham, it is suggested that he has, at the very least, made himself feel at home living there, as he hangs up paintings that he is implied to have created and asks Alhaitham's opinion on straightening them, believes that if he moves out, Alhaitham's life will be devoid of artistic expression (in a way that suggests that he is doing Alhaitham a favor by living with him), and seems to genuinely take keeping the place in order seriously.

By Cyno's second story quest, however, Kaveh seems to be pleasantly comfortable living in Alhaitham's house. They were shown sharing each other's favorite refreshments and chatting casually in the house. Fans speculate that, in accordance to the chronological progress of events since the first time the two appeared in the quest, Kaveh had let down his guard against Alhaitham after Alhaitham had helped him dig into the root cause of his self-destructive guilt in Parade of Providence and later, in his Hangout, read about his mother's account of the value of companionship. Indeed, throughout Cyno's second story quest, Kaveh and Alhaitham did not argue throughout the entire quest and casually expressed joining gatherings or returning home together several times.

Kaveh and Alhaitham appear to share Alhaitham's study, as Alhaitham mentions Kaveh making noise working on projects in the middle of the night, and Kaveh mentions having unfinished blueprints that he could have worked on instead of cleaning up the house. Kaveh can also be seen drafting a blueprint in what appears to be Alhaitham's study in his 2023 birthday art. However, Kaveh is also shown to work on the go, discussing plans with clients while out and about in Sumeru and using Mehrak to show off the blueprints he created to his clients. Mehrak also carries his unloaded tools, further implying that not all of Kaveh's design work and modeling is completed in Alhaitham's home.

Interior A closer inspection of Alhaitham’s home shows numerous items designated for two people around the house. For example, there are three pots with two cups for each on the living room table (this item in the Serenitea Pot, "The Mellow Pot", originally had three cups) along with two bowls of fruit. According to Kaveh, Alhaitham never has guests over, so it is very likely that he and Kaveh spend time in the living room together. There are two "An Elegant Voice" Dutars leaning against the wall, stylish vases among the bookshelves, as well as several benches with side by side seat cushions.

There is a study with a large desk in front of a bookshelf and a floor-level desk in front of a window and within arms reach of another bookshelf. Among the various items on the large desk are a "Light of the Land of Wisdom" lamp, several books, a magnifying glass, and a sextant, while the shorter desk also has its space occupied with some books and a "Two-Way Iron" lamp. The two likely share the desks for their work, as a measuring ruler and fruit-peeling vase (known as "Star-Shaped Multipurpose Bottle" in the Serenitea Pot) can be found on the big desk while a few books and a two-seated chair can be found on the small desk. In Kaveh's 2023 birthday post, he is shown working on a blueprint on the big desk.

Also in the study, there is a double-seated bench that is positioned in front of a table with bowls of fruits, a "The Mellow Pot" set, a "The Twisting Mist" censer and a few books on it, making it likely that this may be one of the places where they eat. Alternatively, it could be another resting place, as it is positioned in front of a window and sits within arm's reach of a large bookshelf. There is also a Kamera on a tripod inexplicably situated beside the table.

There are also two short hallways leading to inaccessible doors, which are speculated to be Alhaitham and Kaveh’s respective bedrooms. It is also possible that these doors lead to other rooms of the house, such as bathrooms or the kitchen, though either way, whatever is behind these doors is un-rendered.

While it has yet to receive any official confirmation, the hallway decorations hint at the idea that the inaccessible doors lead to Alhaitham and Kaveh’s respective bedrooms; the hall leading to the first inaccessible door is where Kaveh hung his painting, implying that it is his wing of the house. On the floor, there is a red seat cushion with a gold, red and turquoise flower design, mirroring the colors of Kaveh’s outfit. There is also a broom leaning against the wall. Kaveh’s complaint that Alhaitham never helps him with the housework makes it unlikely that the broom belongs to Alhaitham.

In the second hall, there is a drawer/shelf with numerous books lined along it, along with a chest and a pot. Alhaitham is an avid bookworm while Kaveh in the Archon Quest expressed a lack of interest in physical books, making it unlikely that the books belong to him. Further supporting this idea, there are no books in the hall with the painting, despite there being books scattered everywhere else in the home.

Kaveh confirms in the event story A Parade of Providence that he has his own bedroom, which he goes into on the rare occasion someone comes to Alhaitham’s house to look for him.

Voicelines/Character and NPC Mentions Did you sleep well? I hope you have a great day today. And that you don't run into someone who ruins your day first thing in the morning. Kaveh's Good Morning voiceline.

I hope my roommate won't be hammering away on another one of his projects in the dead of night... Actually, I'd prefer if he wasn't home at all. I really don't want to wear my soundproof earpieces to bed. Alhaitham's Good Night voiceline.

I guarantee you'll never meet anyone else who's as infuriating as him! And for the record, yes, I would say that to his face. Sure, he's smart, and sure, geniuses often come with a bad temper, but that's only half the story with him... He knows perfectly well how to appear friendly and likable to others, he just doesn't want to. If he ever gives you the impression that he doesn't really have a temper, or that he's rigidly logical like a machine, then you just don't know him well enough yet. He definitely has a personality, it's just... too big a personality. Most people wouldn't get it. Kaveh's About Alhaitham: Temperament voiceline.

Alhaitham helped me out a fair amount recently. If we were still as close as we were during our student days, then I'd be thanking him every chance I got. Now, though... I can't seem get a word of appreciation out of my mouth. Even if I could, I wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction. I guess you could say our relationship is something of a mixed bag these days? Honestly, with everything that's happened, it almost feels like the universe has been playing pranks on us... It's hard to make sense of it all... too much to process for one lifetime. I will say that it's not every day that you get to know someone like him — I just wish he could rein in some of the worst excesses of his personality. Okay, yeah, that's never gonna happen. Kaveh's About Alhaitham: It's Complicated voiceline.

Kaveh tends to be overly sensitive about everyone and everything he crosses paths with, and he's constantly making a fuss about nothing. Maybe it's because he's too emotionally fragile... Alhaitham's About Kaveh: Overly Sensitive voiceline.

Someone set up a stand on the street saying that for each handmade keychain they sold, a child in poverty would be given a meal. Kaveh bought at least a dozen. ...This is Sumeru, where even healthcare is free. I needn't say more. Alhaitham's About Kaveh: Getting Duped voiceline.

Apparently, a lot of people think he has a bad temperament, but I don't think they're giving him a fair chance. When Kaveh built a house right over a Withering Zone and created a huge mess, it ended up being a real headache for the Forest Rangers. Even so, this Forest Ranger didn't hold it against Kaveh. He even invited Kaveh to his house for a meal. Hmm, maybe it's good people like him who allow people like Kaveh to survive. Alhaitham's About Tighnari voiceline.

I saw those two at the cavern once. And another time at the cafe. ...Actually, I think I saw them once at the Grand Bazaar, too. The architect guy, he's always talking in a hushed tone — I guess he doesn't want people to hear, but uh... Okay, it's not like I purposely listen in, it's just... Something about those two guys hanging out together, you just can't look away. Sethos's About Alhaitham and Kaveh voiceline. This is also one of the only two occasions in the game where an About voiceline featured two characters, the other being Furina and Neuvillette having About voicelines for Lyney and Lynette.

The General Mahamatra once brought him to our place for a meal. From the moment the fruit arrived on the table, he ranted non-stop about his difficult and stubborn roommate for the entire meal. We didn't get a single word in the whole time. We just nodded along and tried to stifle our laughter. It took a lot of effort. Collei's voiceline about Kaveh and Alhaitham.

He has an almost-perfect grasp of what it truly means for Sumeru to be a Nation of Wisdom. Sadly, the truth as he understands it will never be accepted as the mainstream. Hmm? He's roommates with Alhaitham? Wow... the world really is full of surprises... Nahida's voiceline about Kaveh.

Kaveh is a famous architect in Sumeru. The Palace of Alcazarzaray is his magnum opus. During the initial planning, he even asked me to recommend suitable ornamental flora. I don't know why or how, but he ended up heavily in debt after the palace was completed. Alhaitham is helping out by letting him stay at his place, but... I don't know whether that's a blessing or a curse... Tighnari's first voiceline about Kaveh.

Be careful of Alhaitham. I'm not saying he's a bad guy, but he purely operates by rationality, so people often find his actions unacceptable. If you don't believe me, just ask his housemate — thanks to Alhaitham, he has more pent-up frustration than an angry Anemo Slime. Tighnari's second voiceline about Alhaitham.

I own a stall here selling drinks, snacks, and stuff like that. My food is reasonably priced. A popular choice for student meals, welcome parties, and team-building alike! And I even got the Mahamata among my clients, too! One bought a whole case of wine! [...] Haha, I actually have no idea what he does, but folks say he's a Mahamata. He was tall and looked like a guy who could hold his drink. But I couldn't tell if he bought the wine for himself or for someone else... I remember him murmuring something like "one case should be enough for an apology" as he carried the wine. ...Say, maybe he wanted to get someone drunk so that they'll forget his mistakes? Shevirme, a Sumeru NPC at the Grand Bazaar

Paimon: Ah, look! Is Alhaitham taking a nap? Traveler: Shh... You're too loud, Paimon. Paimon: Th—That's not true... Paimon was definitely whispering... Traveler: So, what do we do now? Someone opened the door for us, but who's going to wake him up... Traveler?: Paimon heard it was his birthday today and wanted to stop by and say 'hello.' Why don't we leave him a note? Paimon: Paimon... Paimon isn't going to be the one to call him! If Paimon wakes him up, he's going to start asking lots of impossible questions! Alhaitham Birthday 2023 Twitter Caption (EN).

While the following voicelines do not mention either Alhaitham or Kaveh, they match in context, especially considering the confirmation in 3.6 flagship event A Parade of Providence that Kaveh usually brings home food for Alhaitham after eating outside.

Let's not eat here. Mind if I... take it home? Alhaitham's Receiving a Gift: III voiceline, triggered if he is given a soup-based dish.

My favorites are alcohol, warm soup, and anything with cream or cheese in it. Oh, and I'll never say no to fresh fruit. Kaveh's Favorite Food voiceline.

One of Alhaitham's Serenitea Pot idle lines. Time to head home...

I have to go back... One of Kaveh's Serenitea Pot idle lines.

Using Nahida's skill after Act V to read the mind of Panah, an NPC located in the House of Daena, would show his thoughts of how Alhaitham and Kaveh begun arguing again.

Possible Mentions The following scenes are vague and only possibly related to Kaveh and Alhaitham.

In Archon Quest Chapter III: Act II — The Morn a Thousand Roses Brings: The End of Sabzeruz Festival, the Traveler and Paimon discover a letter Dunyarzad left for them on a compilation of folk legends concerning Lesser Lord Kusanali, created from a series of interviews that she conducted in succession and wrote down. One of the stories goes: "There was this one time when I'd had a wee bit too much to drink and couldn't find my way home to save my life. Then, when I turned a corner, I could've sworn I saw Lesser Lord Kusanali. She was very tall and had the most muscular arms, and she caught me when I slipped and fell. The next morning, I found myself sleeping under a tree. I reckon that must've been her looking out for me!" The transcription is possibly from Kaveh, as he is often noted to be an alcoholic and Alhaitham is a notably muscular person. Alhaitham's Character Story 3 makes numerous allusions to the conflict in Kaveh's Character Story 5, as both deal with the categorical distinctions between talented and ordinary people as well as those who refused to accept that they are talented in order to fit in with others. When they were both students at the Akademiya working on a joint project, Alhaitham and Kaveh got into a disagreement because Kaveh insisted that differences in talent were obstacles that could be overcome with effort, while Alhaitham countered that people shouldn't try to fit in with groups to which they don't belong because no amount of hard work could close the gaps in the practical realities surrounding their lack of talent. As a result, Alhaitham's Character Story can be understood as Alhaitham reflecting on the fact that, at one point in their lives, Kaveh ignored the distinction between his talents and those of others in an effort to blend in with the common people. Quests Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises Kaveh is first indirectly mentioned in the Archon Quest when Alhaitham stated that his place was finally in peace now that he temporarily had it to himself. When Dehya questioned him on what he was speaking of, Alhaitham replied with "Oh, huh, nothing."

Their first on-screen interaction is in Act V, where they argue as Kaveh doesn't believe Alhaitham is sincere about his praise of him as a master craftsman or the possibility of Kaveh becoming a sage, as Alhaitham almost was. Kaveh dismissed Alhaitham’s sarcastic compliment, the latter claiming that it was sincere, and Kaveh responds that it’s because Alhaitham has never said anything good about him before. Alhaitham retorts by saying that Kaveh has never said anything good about him either. Kaveh then call him arrogant, which prompts Alhaitham to say that if Kaveh can't stand his personality, he is welcome to move out of his house, which Kaveh considered a threat. Alhaitham asks what Kaveh was doing while away from Sumeru, irritated that he was not there in its time of need. Kaveh is confused as to what happened while he was gone, and decides to ask around to figure out what Alhaitham is referring to as he claims he's done speaking to him.

After talking to Alhaitham, Paimon, who witnessed their previous conversation along with the Traveler, asks Alhaitham if Kaveh is his friend. Alhaitham retorted, "Do we look like friends?" possibly averting answering the question given their past friendship, and instead replies that Kaveh is his roommate, and the reason the latter seems to have so many problems is that he never listens to Alhaitham. Interacting with Alhaitham again triggers a voiceline in which he stated how he originally planned to stay in the House of Daena longer, but later decided to go somewhere else due to how Kaveh might show up again, which is a "nuisance." However, Alhaitham stayed nonetheless.

Later, in the House of Daena, the player has the option to witness another conversation between Kaveh and Alhaitham. Kaveh tells Alhaitham that the people want him to replace Azar as the Grand Sage, and Alhaitham says that has nothing to do with him. Kaveh says it's likely people without any real information were spreading rumors, and Alhaitham tells him that he hasn’t learnt a single crucial bit of information the whole time he was out there. Alhaitham tells him all the sages have been exposed and removed as Azar's accomplices, and Kaveh wonders if that was why they sent him out on a project.

Later, at Nilou's afterparty, Alhaitham mentions that he realized he "accidentally" brought both house keys with him when he left their house, but shrugged it off.

Alhaitham's Story Quest The first mention of Kaveh occurred near the end of the quest, when Paimon nagged Alhaitham on answering her questions. However, as the timing then had been over Alhaitham's working schedule, Alhaitham refuses to further commit to work-related activity and turned to leave. When Paimon kept pestering him, Alhaitham chastised, "Are you done? Your behavior is reminding me of some other people," in irritation. Paimon angrily remarks that he is switching the topic. Later, it is revealed that Alhaitham planned on continuing the conversation in his own house.

When the trio arrives in the house, Kaveh can be found in the hallway. He greets Alhaitham and initially wanted Alhaitham to help him straighten a painting the latter had placed in the house, but stops midsentence in surprise when he sees the two unfamiliar faces in the house behind Alhaitham. Alhaitham scoffs that the Traveler and Paimon are obviously guests and that Kaveh is making too much of a fuss. Kaveh realizes that the two are not from the Akademiya and panics that there are now people who knows he lives in Alhaitham's house because he’s broke and in debt, to which Alhaitham remarks sarcastically that only now did Kaveh start feeling embarrassed about that matter. Alhaitham soon left to get the books the Traveler needed to answer his questions, leaving Kaveh to talk with the duo. Before he walked away, Kaveh angrily berates Alhaitham for leaving so abruptly.

The first thing Kaveh asks the Traveler and Paimon as they settle down is whether they're actors hired by Alhaitham to pretend to be his friends, towards which Paimon is dumbfounded. Kaveh sighs and states that the reason he asked this is because he was surprised when Alhaitham had never invited friends to his house before, given his temperament and personality. Paimon questioned Kaveh about being Alhaitham's friend, to which Kaveh replied with a smile, "Uh... not friends exactly...," and later elaborates that they used to be friends, then looked away when he said that it is no longer the case. He changes the subject abruptly at that and fully introduces himself to Traveler and Paimon, asking them not to give away how he lives with Alhaitham, to which Paimon responded playfully that Kaveh must pay her in order for her to keep her mouth shut about the matter. Kaveh exasperated, pointed out that of course the duo would treat him in a way Alhaitham often does, given they are friends with Alhaitham. Alhaitham eventually returns, commenting on their loudness, and Kaveh leaves, upset, telling Alhaitham to entertain his own friends.

Kaveh eavesdrops the proceeding conversation between Alhaitham, Traveler, and Paimon. When Alhaitham commented on the humanity within humans, Kaveh comes out to sarcastically point out the irony in how Alhaitham was one to have considered humanity and emotion at all. He states that if humans aren't humans without humanity, Alhaitham might as well have evolved into another species in another decade, referring to Alhaitham's extreme rationality. Alhaitham returns the argument by stating how Kaveh may as well have devolved into a fungus, to which Kaveh answers that he'd at least be a fungus with empathy.

Clearing his throat, and seemingly just remembering that they have company, Kaveh turns to the Traveler and apologizes for eavesdropping their conversation, and Paimon tells him that a strange researcher had targeted them and brought them trouble. Kaveh worriedly asks whether they are okay, and Traveler replies that it was actually Alhaitham that the researcher had it out the most on. Kaveh instantly changes his tone and chided Alhaitham, saying that if he'd stayed indoors that day, the whole situation would have been avoided. He adds in how Alhaitham could have helped with the housework for once pointing out that his books are everywhere and unorganized. Alhaitham sighs, and points out that Kaveh has a lack of conversational skills, to which Kaveh easily rebukes at the pot is calling the kettle black. However, he glances at Alhaitham again, asking whether he is okay. Alhaitham replies that he is doing quite well, much better than the painting Kaveh is trying to hang on the wall. Kaveh becomes upset and leaves again.

Kaveh doesn't appear again until the second to last shot of the main cutscene, in which he lingers in the background as Alhaitham talks about the importance of keeping one's priorities straight. He is shown scratching his head at the painting he hung up at the beginning of the quest. Alhaitham orders the Traveler and Paimon from his house so that he can go get dinner and advises them to do the same, though he is eventually found to be chatting with Kaveh instead.

If the Traveler chooses to stay in Alhaitham's house by the end of the quest, they can trigger another harangue between Alhaitham and Kaveh if they enter the two's office. In this cutscene, Alhaitham and Kaveh discuss Siraj's incident and bicker about matters related to their jobs in the Akademiya. After Alhaitham yet again called out Kaveh's embarrassing deals, Kaveh revealed that he had took time out to clean the living room for Alhaitham only to receive such treatment. Alhaitham straightforwardly replies that Kaveh should pay his rent soon, as he plans to buy furniture with that Mora. Kaveh criticizes Alhaitham's taste in decoration, and the two begin insulting each other's skill and tastes again. Later, Kaveh circumscribes that if Alhaitham were to buy furniture, he must take Kaveh along with him. Alhaitham retorts that Kaveh only said so because he wanted Alhaitham to buy him drinks, to which Kaveh happily confirms. Alhaitham stated that the idea was ridiculous and that Kaveh would have needed to pay him back eventually. At the end of the conversation, Kaveh tells Alhaitham to tell the Traveler and Paimon to keep the secret in which they live together since he’s broke and in debt, and Alhaitham remarks that there is no need to hide the fact so carefully when Kaveh is such a lightweight that a few drinks in the tavern had him spilling out all his secrets. The scene ends with Kaveh panicking whether everyone knows that he lives with Alhaitham now and that he’s barely has mora.

Using Nahida to read Kaveh's mind in the second cutscene would reveal him panicking over how Alhaitham or other tavern owners may have spilled his secrets, and he wondered whether Alhaitham knows about his drunken scribbling. Using Nahida to read Alhaitham's mind would show thoughts over tidying books, implying that he conceded to Kaveh’s complaints about his books being unsorted.

Kaveh's Hangout Alhaitham is mentioned several times in Kaveh's Hangout Event, and he makes a brief appearance in the route The First Ideal, and in the ending Wondrous Times.

Wealthy Merchant Traveler sarcastically retorts against Tippu, an investor who kept being antagonistic toward Kaveh, with one of Alhaitham's lines in the Archon Quests: "You don't seem to think about your questions very thoroughly before speaking." Kaveh responds by bafflingly asking the Traveler why they tried to sound like Alhaitham.

Kaveh also mentions that the more wealthy a person is, the more miserly they are, and passive aggressively states that someone like that might remind you every other day that it’s time to pay rent, hinting at Alhaitham.

A Whole New Style Kaveh was reflecting over Badawi's actions and how it, in some aspects, reflects his own ideology. He brings up Alhaitham and how in the many years they have known each other, they have always argued over their opposing ideologies. Kaveh recalled that Alhaitham had told him how a strong swimmer would always be dragged down by others when they run out of stamina, a fate corresponding to that of the idealists. Kaveh once again rejects this point of view, commenting that Alhaitham is the type of person that would stand by the shore mumbling "respect other's fates" while someone drowns next to him. He then hesitates, contradicting his previous statement when he compared his own fate to that of the tired swimmer and realized someone had actually helped him at his worst. Although he doesn't say who has helped him, it's implied that he's thinking of Alhaitham. Kaveh shifts the topic, and the scene ends.

Past Mementos A drunken Kaveh had returned to his and Alhaitham's house after Traveler suggested that he could perhaps find comfort in the items his mother had left behind many years ago. Kaveh tells the Traveler that Alhaitham isn't home, so they are free to sit wherever they want.

Compared to Kaveh's attitude in A Parade of Providence in which he firmly regarded the house as Alhaitham's and expressed eagerness to move out, Kaveh doesn't mention that the house is Alhaitham's and treats it as his own.

The First Ideal The Traveler and Kaveh enter the Temple of Wisdom, a large library containing the House of Daena and many of Kaveh's old memories from his days as a student in the Akademiya. Kaveh stated that, of the many places in the Akademiya, the House of Daena had been the most memorable, as he liked the ambience and availability of ancient physical books. He also liked his days as a student, because he could draw out his designs freely without worrying about budgeting and bringing them to life. He pulled all-nighters in the House of Daena often whenever his studies got busy.

As he walked across the bookshelves and showed one of the books he had annotated on to the Traveler, he wondered aloud why Alhaitham's handwriting had been on his book. Kaveh shrugs it off by stating that it was likely from when he worked with Alhaitham on the research project together, and proceeds to bring up that the House of Daena was where he first met Alhaitham. Many years ago, Kaveh had felt bad for Alhaitham when he saw the young scholar sitting by himself away from the other Haravatat students, looking too lazy to join them. He explains that he mistakenly thought Alhaitham was in trouble and approached him, and Alhaitham appears and finishes his sentence by commenting that Kaveh was the one in a whole heap of trouble.

Kaveh freaks out at Alhaitham's sudden appearance and exclaimed that Alhaitham would've been at the records room at this working hour, and that he may have came here just to see Kaveh making a fool of himself. Alhaitham replied that, if he had derived amusement from watching Kaveh falling into depression, he would have been entertaining himself for years. Kaveh calms himself down, and refuses to continue his story about his relationship with Alhaitham, to which Alhaitham then finishes the story for him and asks why the two had come to the House of Daena. Kaveh cuts the Traveler off when they were about to reveal that he had been feeling unwell, proudly claiming that it is a senior's responsibility to offer a friend tours of the Akademiya's architecture, and Alhaitham teasingly remarks that their next stop might be Razan Garden, as "our famed architect sure loves showing off that corner to all his friends." Alhaitham proceeds to lead Kaveh away by telling him that the books the latter had annotated were moved away by the ex-Conservator, who thought Kaveh's annotations were too long and difficult to read, enraging Kaveh and successfully causing him to storm away to the faraway bookshelves to move them back to where they were.

With Kaveh gone, Alhaitham asks the Traveler to elaborate on what they said about Kaveh feeling unwell, and they begin to discuss Kaveh's situation, as well as why Kaveh has found himself in it. Alhaitham explains that this is due to a flaw in Kaveh's personality, in that he prioritizes the feelings of others over his own, despite the fact that he, as the Kshahrewar's leading genius, should have the right to reject unreasonable demands from his clients, and would likely be respected for doing so. At the end of their conversation, Alhaitham concedes, essentially saying that they should respect the paths others have chosen for themselves because everyone is unique. When Kaveh returns, he asks if they were talking about him, and Alhaitham asks sarcastically what he thought. Kaveh retorts that it would be more interesting than talking about the files Alhaitham was sorting, before reading out an annotation thanking him for his notes in the book he found, gaining Kaveh another heart. Alhaitham remarks on how easy Kaveh is to please, to which Kaveh responds angrily, saying that he's mocking the ex-Conservator for moving his books in the first place, and that he'll have a discussion with him about relocating the books. Alhaitham questions him on why he won't move them himself, given that the ex-Conservator dislikes him and has previously referred to him as the Urchin of the Kshahrewar due to his penchant for scribbling and writing in various books. Embarrassed, Kaveh remarks that Alhaitham should not have mentioned the latter while he was there, before shifting the conversation to the doodle in the book.

The drawing turns out to be the first draft of the Port Ormos bridge, which Alhaitham doesn't seem to recognize at first, much to Kaveh's dismay, to which Alhaitham responds by teasingly asking him to explain. Kaveh offers to take the Traveler down to Port Ormos, but Alhaitham declines the Travelers' invitation to come along because he needs to finish up work before returning home. Kaveh claims that Alhaitham is incapable of appreciating art and departs with the Traveler.

Alhaitham is briefly mentioned again near the end of the route when Kaveh says that Alhaitham believes he lives in the shadow of the past due to his personality, and he disagrees with this conclusion Alhaitham reached, instead believing it's just a part of life.

Wondrous Times One of the options after discovering Kaveh's mother's diary in Alhaitham's home leads to Kaveh and the Traveler deciding to visit Faranak's old professor Zaha Hadi for answers to what Faranak's diary password may be. Zaha Hadi had recalled Faranak's many feats, and that the former was happy Faranak had finally found a place to call home after so many years of hardship. Kaveh asked Zaha Hadi how his mother had coped with the stress, to which Zaha Hadi replied that she was not too sure, as Faranak rarely opened up to people. However, one thing Faranak stated in an argument struck out to Zaha Hadi: that it is extremely hard for artists to find people who can truly understand their ideas. Kaveh tried out "understanding" and "acknowledgement" for the diary password, but both failed. Zaha Hadi comments that Kaveh and Faranak were quite alike — both stubborn, and a little awkward. Like Kaveh, Faranak had a clear expression, and would fight for it tooth and nail, getting into many fights with her clients as a result. Such fights got better when she met Kaveh's father, who had never understood Faranak's ideas, yet stayed by her side listening to her joys and sorrows, leading to Faranak eventually choosing him instead of her many admirers in the end. Kaveh entered "companionship" as a password, and the diary opens, much to his surprise and joy. Leading away, Kaveh reads through his mother's diary.

Faranak tells of meeting "someone special", someone she didn't feel much towards at first but eventually became someone "[she] felt very happy whenever [she] got to spend time with." A drawing was attached to the diary, showing the fathers (or adopting father, in Cyno's case) of Kaveh, Alhaitham, Cyno, and Tighnari, and a note had elaborated on their friendships. In particular, the "stiff-looking couple" (Alhaitham's parents), were "unbearable." The note ends in Faranak hoping Kaveh to participate in similar gatherings one day, making many different friends as the meeting shown in the drawing had demonstrated. Kaveh then notices a note on the back of the drawing, a message Faranak specially left for him, in which she stated that, whenever he feels down, he could form connections with other people and accumulate fulfillment from spending time with them. The "positive feelings" he would get "will get [him] through the long and difficult years [...] [and] companionship is the most important thing of all." Pondering over his mother's words, Kaveh considers accepting Tighnari's dinner invitation and decides to go regardless of whether the Traveler reassures him that it's fine to lean on his friends or not.

Throughout the first half of the ending, Kaveh had been shown often pondering over Zaha Hadi and his mother's words. Some fans speculate the Hangout to be one of the signs to Kaveh finally coming up to his end of a compromise, where he realizes the undeniable significance and lessons learned from the many years he spent with Alhaitham. However, another way to interpret this ending and Kaveh's realization is Kaveh learning from his mother to rely on others in times of hardship, which he has shown reluctance to do in his conversation with the Traveler. While this obviously involves relying on Alhaitham, it also includes Tighnari and Cyno, two other characters he is shown to be close to and who have offered him their help in the past, with him confirming that Tighnari has directly helped him before. This interpretation is directly supported by Kaveh finding a drawing done by his mother depicting his father drinking with Tighnari and Alhaitham's fathers, and Cyno's adoptive father, and all sitting in the same positions as him and his own friend group in the Hangout Memory Leisurely Gathering. As well, Faranak had also hoped that Kaveh would attend social gatherings and make many friends, suggesting that she wasn't expecting him to seek out companionship from a singular person, but many people.

When Kaveh, Tighnari, the Traveler, and Paimon arrive at Pardis Dhyai, it was revealed that Tighnari also invited Alhaitham to dinner in order to discuss Collei's future with his friends, with Kaveh expressing mild disappointment that it wasn't just a free meal, but nonetheless eagerly contributing to the discussion. Tighnari almost starts the dinner without Alhaitham when Kaveh says he won't be there, and Kaveh initially agrees before quickly changing his mind and saying they should wait for Alhaitham and chat a little longer. As Tighnari chats about Collei's upcoming curriculum, Kaveh wonders whether its complexity inspired Tighnari to invite "that guy." Alhaitham suddenly shows up, to which he shares a typical sarcastic bicker with Kaveh before entering the topic of studies. Throughout the conversation, Alhaitham sarcastically butts in to Kaveh's statements, much to Kaveh's exasperation, such as when Kaveh suggests Darshans for Collei and Alhaitham remarks that he may as well list every Darshan but Haravatat. Kaveh's heart meter increases by one throughout the dinner, and the scene would transition to Kaveh drunk as he ranted about a troubling client. Alhaitham reveals that that he knows Kaveh often gets up in the middle of the night to make individual designs the client didn't request, to which Kaveh angrily tries to deny. The quest soon ends in an image of the four leisurely hanging out, with Kaveh puffing at Alhaitham. The caption to the ending reads, "The positive feelings you gain will get you through the long and difficult years."

A Parade of Providence Both Kaveh and Alhaitham are featured in the A Parade of Providence flagship event. Alhaitham is one of the commentators and judges to the competition, while Kaveh is a contestant and representative of Kshahrewar. While Kaveh initially joined to fulfill his deceased father's dream and to use the prize money to buy a house of his own, Alhaitham joined to investigate Sachin's mysterious case half in personal interest and half on Kaveh's behalf. In the entire event, Kaveh was the only person Alhaitham had personally addressed to without dismissively cutting off any possibilities of personal connection.

In Act I, Kaveh first indirectly noted Alhaitham when he was chatting with the other contestants of the competition. When asked what he joined the competition for, he stated that he wanted to buy property, to which Paimon butted in and almost revealed that he lives with Alhaitham. Kaveh immediately coughs, lying that the case had nothing to do with Alhaitham, and explained his situation with his father. Faruzan found this suspicious and wondered whether the two are hiding something from her. Using Nahida to read Kaveh's thoughts after this conversation would reveal him thinking about moving out of Alhaitham's place.

Afterwards, when all the Swiftflies have been collected, Alhaitham declared the conclusion of the first round and immediately turned to leave. Kaveh called to him and proposes that, as him and Faruzan caught the Swiftflies together, their two points should be split between them. Alhaitham retorted that there isn't a rule in the handbook that permits this action, and Kaveh told him to just add a rule. Alhaitham refused, and Kaveh questioned that Alhaitham was standing in the way of his victory. They eventually came to the solution of drawing lots, to which Kaveh lost and had to forfeit his point to Faruzan. Alhaitham remarked that it is rare someone so unlucky in life is still so willing to draw lots to decide victory, and cut Kaveh off when the latter accused him of not understanding the situation. Afterwards, Kaveh angrily tried to catch up with Alhaitham, who had abruptly left.

In Act II, the competition took place in the desert. Alhaitham was somewhat indirectly mentioned when Kaveh was explaining Mehrak's functions to the Traveler. Kaveh stated that, as Mehrak isn't able to talk, it couldn't give him an attitude. He then shifts the conversation and talked about how he wished this season of his life ends soon. One of the reasons he gave when explaining events of his life that caused it go downhill was first meeting Alhaitham in the library.

After the competition ended, Kaveh offered to draw lots yet again, as he and Faruzan found the last Ley Line Disruptor at the same time. Alhaitham retorted that Kaveh gets caught up in things like drawing lots easily, and Kaveh protested that the former should not have made it sound as if the latter finds pleasure in bad luck. Kaveh won the draw and almost cried, as his luck had finally taken a turn for the better. Alhaitham was shown quiet and studying Kaveh, crossing his arms, and the scene ends.

Later, Aarav suggested the Traveler and Paimon to check on Alhaitham for information on the missing Sachin. They ended up coming to Alhaitham's house, where Kaveh let them in. Kaveh remarked that he typically stays in his own room when people come to see Alhaitham, as he couldn't risk people from the Akademiya finding out he lives there, although most people "have better things to do" than to "barge in here looking for [Alhaitham]." Paimon then asked Kaveh where Alhaitham was, and Kaveh snorted that all that matters to the latter is that the former is out of the house. Traveler smirks, asking whether they had a quarrel, and Kaveh revealed that Alhaitham had criticized his emphasis on seniority and reliance on luck every round to achieve victory. Kaveh acts out the argument and concludes it angrily by stating that he had had enough with Alhaitham, with the disdain being mutual between them. He expressed that Alhaitham would have to do his own tidying and cleaning of the house from now on, as Kaveh had already picked a new house and would be moving out of the house right away. Paimon shifted the topic to Kaveh's wellbeing and eventually whether Kaveh had any information on Sachin, to which Kaveh replied that Alhaitham had mentioned to him information about Sachin recently and asked him to look over his notes. Kaveh hands the Traveler and Paimon the notes Alhaitham had took, and Paimon wondered whether it was okay to read it without Alhaitham's permission. Kaveh retorted that Alhaitham had certainly been okay with taking his beer whenever he pleased, but reading his mind with Nahida would show him pondering whether Alhaitham leaving such particular notes was really unintentional. Indeed, it was revealed later that Alhaitham had intentionally been hinting to Kaveh regarding Sachin, who had connections to Kaveh's deceased father.

In Act III, the Traveler and Paimon investigated into Sachin's supposed abduction, and realized something may be wrong with the diadem, the objective of the third round in the Interdarshan Championship. Paimon realizes that some of the information aligns with Alhaitham's notes and that Alhaitham would have previously looked into the matter.

As the third round finally begins, Alhaitham continued acting as a commentator and judge, namingly noting Kaveh to be "late" in the Chinese version of the game. Being caught in between the vicious fighting among the other contestants, Kaveh stumbled upon the thrown diadem and was dragged towards the ending line. Sachin's consciousness proceeds to intrude his mind and materialize in front of him, much to the surprise of the cast and to Alhaitham's expectations. Alhaitham and Sachin engaged into a conversation that helped Kaveh realize that the latter was used as a subject of Sachin's human nature experiment, and Kaveh breaks the diadem as a result, to end the line of suffering and regret Sachin brought to the winners of each Interdarshan Championship, rejecting his status the successor to Sachin’s research in the process. Sachin's consciousness smiles as he fades away, implying that he anticipated Kaveh's rejection of him and his worldview in order to maintain his idealism. Tighnari would later point out that Sachin's choice of Kaveh as his successor was not coincidental, lending credence to this theory.

As the contestants come forth to check on Kaveh's discomfort, Alhaitham announces Kaveh as the winner of both the round and the Interdarshan Championship. Notably, Alhaitham is smiling during this interaction. For the "avoidance of doubt," Alhaitham also asked Kaveh whether it was of his true intention to donate all of Sachin's wealth. Kaveh replied that rejecting the world would achieve nothing and that he would bear the responsibility of the consequences to breaking the diadem, which would cease the pain that would have been brought to all the future generations of Interdarshan contestants. Alhaitham smiled, bringing the conversation to a personal end by commenting that Kaveh had long been aware of his own flaws and that he said well, even if the former still finds this sense of justice quite ridiculous. Kaveh referenced to his first conversation with Alhaitham in the first Act by replying that he didn't need Alhaitham's insincere praise and that the time and place was not right for a debate over personal views. Nilou concluded the scene by announcing the transition to the award ceremony.

As Cyno pays Kaveh a million mora as tribute to Kaveh giving away the incredibly rare TCG cover award, Kaveh decided to treat everyone to a meal when he realized he had enough money to cover the bills of his month. Alhaitham proceeded to disappear in the meal, and Kaveh complained that the one time he had been in a good mood to treat Alhaitham, the latter doesn't show up. While the group chatted into the night about Kaveh's choice in breaking the diadem, Kaveh gave a side comment about how it was a good thing Alhaitham wasn't there, as he would have been quick to prove him wrong. Collei remarked that Kaveh seemed to always include Alhaitham in conversations, and Tighnari adds that no dinner with Kaveh is complete without a few words on Alhaitham. Cyno then joked that Alhaitham lives rent-free in everyone's hearts, which Kaveh considered horrifying. Reading Kaveh's mind with Nahida after this conversation would show that he thought about ordering some food to bring home to Alhaitham.

The final sub-quest features the Traveler coincidentally finding Alhaitham while searching in Aaru Village for clues about the incident Sachin encountered twenty years ago. Alhaitham was reading Sachin's notes, and remarked that he would never have agreed to being a commentator if not for investigating Sachin. He then explained to the Traveler and Paimon his view on empathy, reality, idealism, and human nature, all themes heavily connected to Kaveh's view of the world and the event of his life, and while explaining why Sachin chose Kaveh to be his successor in the first place, as Kaveh was a genius that could also understand human suffering. Alhaitham would also point out that while Sachin’s research and worldview wasn’t incorrect, sometimes being correct means nothing at all, which is a statement that would be reflected in his conversation with Kaveh in When The Curtains Close, implying that he had his disagreements in Kaveh in mind when he said this.

After Alhaitham concluded his explanation, Paimon wondered aloud if Alhaitham came to Aaru Village solely for news on Sachin when he could be eating together with everyone while Kaveh was treating. Alhaitham dismissively stated that Kaveh would have packed leftovers for him if that's the case, which lined up to Kaveh's thoughts after the get-together dinner.

When the Curtains Close If the player chooses not to inform Kaveh about the his father’s past involvement with Sachin, or failed to complete the side quest Sachin’s Article prior to obtaining this quest, Alhaitham, who researched the incident independently, will show up and inform him instead. The conversation will only become available if Kaveh is not informed, or if the player failed to complete the side quest that unlocks the option to tell him.

In this scenario, Kaveh will ask as to where Alhaitham was during a celebratory dinner he was hosting with friends, telling Alhaitham that he cannot survive solely on books. Alhaitham will remark that he doesn't recall having to report his whereabouts to Kaveh and that surviving on meals paid for by him would be more difficult than on books, much to Kaveh's chagrin.

Kaveh then mentions that he knew Alhaitham was researching Sachin, but he was surprised that Alhaitham was interested in Sachin's research due to their opposing philosophies, Sachin's being nihilism and Alhaitham's being egoism, despite finding them both equally repulsive. Alhaitham points out that Sachin's research was not completely meaningless, and that he left his findings behind after conducting large-scale experiments. He shifts Kaveh's attention after sarcastically thanking him for the compliment, explaining that he didn't come there for that particular conversation, meaning to inform him of something else.

Kaveh confirms that his philosophical debates with Alhaitham are as interesting to him as they are to Alhaitham, and Alhaitham follows up by telling him that, according to his findings, his father met Sachin twenty years ago, much to Kaveh's surprise. Kaveh realizes that Sachin's influence caused his father to go out into the desert, which is why Sachin recognized him in the first place. Alhaitham momentarily expresses some sympathy for him.

The two then debate the likelihood of a situation like this repeating itself after Kaveh destroyed the diadem, with Kaveh insisting that things won't go exactly the same way because one person's actions cannot predict the behavior of the group, and Alhaitham feeling the opposite way because Kaveh is also an anomaly in this situation, having made a choice that not many others would have. After some thought, Kaveh declares that he will not change his mind and that Alhaitham will not change his mind, causing Alhaitham to relent due to the two arguing over their opposing philosophies for years and both being equally stubborn on their viewpoints. The debate has long since moved beyond who is right or wrong.

After some hesitation, Kaveh thanks Alhaitham for informing him, which Alhaitham pretends he didn't hear the first time. Kaveh annoyedly repeats his thanks in a louder voice, calling Alhaitham out for pretending not to hear him, to which Alhaitham responds cheekily that earnest thanks should be expressed three times, asking him to "please" repeat it one more time.

This conversation notably ends on a lighter note than the one where the Traveler and Paimon choose whether or not to tell Kaveh about his father, with Alhaitham having distracted Kaveh from his guilt about his father’s death rather than leaving him to dwell on it.

Cyno Story Quest 2 In the beginning of the story quest, when Cyno and Cyrus seemingly finished handling the case of a mysterious threat letter, Kaveh had taken interest in the strange patterns of the letter and worked together with Alhaitham behind the scenes to investigate the case. At the night of when Traveler, Paimon, Cyno, Tighnari, and Collei camped out, the two visited the group to inform them of their observations. The conversation begins with a flashback of Kaveh and Alhaitham in Alhaitham's home — Kaveh had been searching for the wine cups that he washed, and when he found them, Alhaitham asked Kaveh to pour him some wine as well. Kaveh asked if the cookies were still on the table; Alhaitham replied yes, and that the fruits were also plated. Kaveh commented on how the wine tasted bland, and how he should have gotten wine Cyno's group was drinking the night before. Alhaitham looked up from his book and asked what wine they were drinking. Kaveh, then sitting down on the table next to Alhaitham, recounted how he ran into Cyrus last night and happened to hop into the dinner with Cyno's group that Cyrus was hosting, which contained new vintage he liked. Alhaitham observed that the group must have been all tangled up in the threat letter case. The two began discussing about the strange letter, and Kaveh attempts to replicate the illustration in the letter. Sitting down on the table in front of Alhaitham, he further ponders about the case with Alhaitham, eventually arriving at the conclusion that it had something to do with the Temple of Silence. Back in the camp, after hearing Kaveh's recount, the group tackles the case altogether and decides to go after Cyno and Cyrus. Kaveh and Alhaitham would reside in the House of Daena to search for information about the Temple of Silence in the books.

One conversation between Alhaitham and Kaveh is strictly only available right before the group visits Cyrus's house, and will not be present if the player chooses to visit Cyrus's house first. Kaveh and Alhaitham had been looking through the bookshelves, and Kaveh had taken notice in Alhaitham looking attentively at something. He asks what Alhaitham is doing, to which Alhaitham replies that he recalled there being books about the Temple of Silence, but they are few and far between. Empathizing with Alhaitham, Kaveh states that it would take long to search for these books. Alhaitham claims that he'll manage, and Kaveh seems to form the beginning of a retort, but pushes it back down as he exclaims that he would help Alhaitham look through the books. In the CN script, Kaveh states that he must help Alhaitham, or else neither shall go home to sleep. Alhaitham says that it's a shame there isn't coffee around, to which Kaveh replies that if the latter knew what they were getting into, he would've made some coffee before leaving the house. He wonders aloud to Alhaitham whether the latter met anyone from the Akademiya Temple of Silence, and Alhaitham provides that he met these people a few times, their workload being even lighter than his own. Kaveh is confused as to how Alhaitham knows this or whether he joins any of these chats, and Alhaitham answers that he simply pretends he isn't listening. Kaveh, being a social butterfly, doesn't comprehend listening while ignoring people of a conversation. He asks Alhaitham to teach him this useful skill, to which Alhaitham demonstrates by ignoring him for a while, which angers Kaveh. Alhaitham breaks out of his demonstration, stating that that's all there is to it.

Reading Alhaitham's mind during this period with Nahida would show Alhaitham pondering over the Temple of Silence, thinking that there are many documents in the library and that he should purchase coffee first. Reading Kaveh's mind would show that he slept too late last night, and he wondered if he should get Mehrak to purchase coffee.

The whole group later regroups in the House of Daena to share theories and findings. Alhaitham and Kaveh links their ideas and concludes that Cyrus went to the Temple of Silence himself. Naphis, Tighnari's master, later arrives, confirming the information and calling for action. He asks Kaveh and Alhaitham to stay to manage the House of Daena in their place as they set off to investigate Cyno's case, which they agree to.

Alhaitham and Kaveh appear again by the end of the story quest. When Cyno, Tighnari, Traveler, and Paimon went to the House of Daena, Cyno asked surprisedly whether he is hallucinating or if he is seeing Kaveh and Alhaitham engaged in diligent studying. Kaveh replied that they were just re-organizing the mountain of books they used. Alhaitham responds that there isn't a rush, as no one reads these books. After informing them of everything that happened in the desert, Cyno asks whether the two are good for coffee, and Alhaitham agrees. Kaveh, however, says that he had too much coffee, evident in how there are two more kettles on the House of Daena table. Later in the cafe, there are also correspondingly only 6 cups on the table despite there being 7 people, one cup missing on the side of the table where Kaveh and Alhaitham sat side by side. By the end of the get-together, Alhaitham called that he would be leaving. Kaveh tells him that they should stop off at the House of Daena before heading home to put the books back. Alhaitham responds that that is his thoughts exactly, and the two leave for the rest of the quest.

An Odd Textual Mystery Around the beginning of An Odd Textual Mystery, the Traveler learned from a conversation with Layla that Kaveh had been looking for a certain book which the Traveler was also investigating. Paimon suggested to hang around the Akademiya to find Kaveh for clues, and the Traveler and Paimon ended up at Alhaitham's house in their search.

At the sound of footsteps, Paimon began to tell the approaching person to stop in their tracks, but stopped when she realized it was Alhaitham. She asked what Alhaitham was doing there, to which he responded that he thought they were under the impression he lived there, and whether he could do anything for them. Paimon stuttered that Alhaitham needn't do anything, to which Alhaitham left the scene. Another set of footsteps followed, and Traveler called Kaveh out, much to Kaveh's surprise.

Kaveh asked startlingly what the two were doing near Alhaitham's house, and Paimon replied in Alhaitham's words that she thought Kaveh was under the impression he would know they only come to the house to look for him. Kaveh remarked that Paimon didn't sound like herself, implying that she sounded like Alhaitham. Soon, the Traveler pulled Kaveh to one side to explain the rumors they heard about the mysterious book from Faruzan, and Kaveh exclaimed that he thought he had been discreet the whole time while searching for the book. Paimon tells him to get real and that more people knows Kaveh lives in Alhaitham's house than he thinks. Kaveh countered hesitantly that of course no one knows, but worried if a stranger overheard him talking about it sometime, which could impact his career. Kaveh quickly switches the topic back to the book and whether the Traveler would help him look for it together, and Paimon answers that they should split the hidden loot if they do find it. Before Kaveh could respond, the Traveler and Paimon left to look more around Sumeru, much to the Kaveh's bafflement.

A while later, the Traveler and Paimon ended up finding Tighnari for more information. Tighnari remarked that, when he went to read the book, there were already annotations of two different styles in the book. To none of their surprise, they knew Kaveh drew the first circle. Tighnari followed that guessing the identity of the second annotator should then be trivial, since if two people lived in the same house and one of them drew a circle, it would be highly likely the other person left a mark as well. Here, it could be deduced that Alhaitham was the second annotator, as Kaveh and Alhaitham lived in the same house. Tighnari sighed that Kaveh and Alhaitham were too much, each of them having left marks that would lead or mislead the reader.

Later, by the end of the ordeal, after Kaveh bought the fully marked book, he looked around the city for Alhaitham. When Kaveh found Alhaitham, he reported that he had been looking everywhere for him. Alhaitham inquired him of what happened, to which Kaveh asked for Alhaitham to guess what he had in his little bag. Alhaitham commented that it must have contained a young man's tears of regret, and Kaveh angrily told him that the item was actually the mysterious book many in Sumeru had been speaking about. Amused, Alhaitham remarked how Kaveh actually bothered to memorize the long name of the book, and Kaveh stated that it was because he had to write the name over and over while filing paperwork. Alhaitham commented that it looked like the book had a new owner — Kaveh, who then asked him whether he knew their friends had all marked the book after Kaveh marked the murderer. Alhaitham replied that he predicted the events of the book's transferral around Sumeru, to which Kaveh surprisedly demanded how Alhaitham knew about the book too. Alhaitham said that he had the pleasure of reading the book in the House of Daena, plus Kaveh had left the book out in the study. The conversation was followed by a bout of bickering regarding the clashing penmanship in the book, and the quest soon ends as Kaveh sighed that he didn't even want the book in the end.

Chromatic Ode of Candies and Roses Alhaitham and Kaveh debuted in Chromatic Ode of Candies and Roses together around the middle of the second part of the event, when Candace foretold that two people "talking about something dangerous" would enter the valley across of her and the Traveler. The two people turn out to be Alhaitham and Kaveh, whom were discussing about the logistics for the Sabzeruz festival.

At first, when the Traveler and Candace can only hear snippets of the two's conversation, they misunderstood the conversation as plans of sabotage from bandits. Kaveh and Alhaitham would be revealed when Candace comes out to stop them, to which confuses Kaveh. Alhaitham, who was facing Kaveh, turns around to face the group. Kaveh clears the misunderstanding and recalls the details of his conversation with Alhaitham, with the scene transitioning into the flashback: Alhaitham and Kaveh had been walking together and arguing about Mehrak, who mysteriously disappeared. Kaveh was saying that his relationship with Mehrak was more than heartless and transactional and that Alhaitham overthought the whole thing, while Alhaitham remarked that it was Kaveh's theory in the first place that Mehrak worked all this time for Kaveh without being paid. Kaveh replied that that was just him being dramatic, and Mehrak hadn't returned all the way back since it went to get coffee. Alhaitham remarked that perhaps seeing underlings at the Akademiya pick up coffee for their seniors taught Mehrak something about its situation, to which Kaveh responded that he would treat Mehrak like that.

As Kaveh reflected on how Mehrak isn't such a heartless machine, Alhaitham mentions that this situation somehow led to Kaveh meeting the former by chance in Port Ormos when Alhaitham was supposed to be working (in EN, Alhaitham omits the detail that his meeting with Kaveh was by chance). Kaveh replied that it was good he ran into Alhaitham, actually, as he wanted Alhaitham to look at his proposal. Alhaitham did not deny the request, commenting that he thought Kaveh was confident in his abilities, and Kaveh argued that he just wanted to confirm the route for the flower carriage. Alhaitham noted that he was never involved in the festival, as it was not part of his job description, and couldn't be convinced by the Akademiya. The next second, he agrees to lend a hand with the festival when Kaveh asked him to. They then begun discussing about the logistics of the explosion of candies in the festival, which was overheard by Candace and taken the wrong way. With that out of the way, Paimon was relieved that the two hadn't been planning something dangerous and harmful for the upcoming festival.

Alhaitham, Kaveh, Candace, Paimon, and Traveler then worked together on the planning and debunking the theories in regards to Candace's encounter with the bandits. At the end of the conversation, at the mention of changing perspectives, Kaveh directs to Alhaitham and snapped how it must have been Alhaitham that scared Mehrak off. Alhaitham countered that it was such an "ingenious" thought, when he had known Mehrak for a while now. We then learn for the first time that Mehrak is programmed to recognize Alhaitham's voice (a gesture that implies how close and trusted Alhaitham is to Kaveh. Some fans also regarded this scene as an interpretation of Mehrak's role in this relationship, where it is almost like a household puppy for the two). Kaveh agreed that something else must have happened, only to be interrupted when Mehrak suddenly appeared and came to Kaveh. Alhaitham eventually leaves after Tighnari came, saying that he has work to do at the House of Daena.

A while later, in the middle of a conversation between Kaveh, Faruzan, and Nahida, Kaveh may or may not have indirectly mentioned Alhaitham when he was trying to make up an excuse for not having brought an imaginary blueprint, where a "friend has [the blueprint]" and how "that guy is always causing trouble".

At the end of the festival, when everyone met up at Pardis Dhyai for dinner, Kaveh had briefly commented on Alhaitham having hermit tendencies. They also bickered for a line or two about the desert's relics.

In the final group photo of the Sumeru cast, Kaveh and Alhaitham had sat together.

Mistranslations and Voice Misdirection The English version of the game presents a considerable amount of mistranslations and voice misdirection that often lead to misconceptions or antagonism of the ship, primarily on Kaveh's behalf. Alternatively, it could also be seen as a different interpretation of the ship.

Unlike the CN, JP, and KR versions of the game, Haikaveh in EN is significantly more sarcastic and dramatic, primarily in the voice acting. It excluded many of the tone shifts present in the original CN version of the game and, in many cases, modified lighthearted and joking themes to be more serious and sometimes aggressive. Within the scripting, a considerable portion of Kaveh's dialogue is modified in EN to include capslock or interrobangs instead of the regular question or exclamation marks in the CN script, while specific tonal emphasis and hyperbolization not present in three other languages is placed into phrases in a way that can change the connotation and themes of entire dialogue branches. Two examples of modification of scripting in which the translated script comes off more negative than the original script include:

EN Kaveh: Just put down that worthless book and tell me what happened in the Akademiya. [...] It doesn't matter, it's probably just another thing that you used your authority to get your hands on anyway. Just put it aside. Listen, I came back today only to hear that the sages have disappeared! CN Kaveh: Stop reading that annoying book — come on and tell me, what happened in the Akademiya? [...] Yeah right, it's just something you got with your authority, forget it. I came back today to hear that the sages have disappeared! EN Kaveh: Plus, he could have helped me with the housework for once. See those books? They've been sitting there waiting for someone to sort through them for an age. If you're not gonna read them, tidy them away! They don't belong there! CN Kaveh: He could rather have helped me out at home with the housework. Look at those books over there — they haven't been tidied for long. Since they're books you wouldn't normally read, just don't put them all outside! Though this is more prominently seen as localization of the script to fit comedic tropes of the West or as an alternative interpretation of the relationship dynamic, it sometimes attracted negative attention from the fandom in how Kaveh can be considered to be much more demanding, disrespectful, and negative in EN compared to the characterization in the three other languages. Indeed, fandom interpretations of Kaveh vary considerably between Asian medium and Western medium.

There are also minor differences in Alhaitham's Character Story 4 between the original CN and the EN translation, particularly concerning the last paragraph which downplays Alhaitham's closeness to Kaveh.

Original Chinese Version: In Alhaitham's view, [...] who know each other from the inside out (alt trans: "by heart", "through and through", essentially meaning that they have mutually deep understanding of each other)

English Translated Version: As far as Alhaitham is concerned, Kaveh is a familiar face.