[ Kaveh's eyes squeeze tighter shut at the soft press of lips, a salty wetness spilling over his lashes as he takes another shaky breath. Yes, it hurts, but it's a hurt that he deserves— something he's not sure he can ever make Tighnari understand. How can he not deserve it, after all the pain he caused his mother? After he ruined his family? ]

It was... unexpected. He died too young. [ His voice is hoarse. ] And it changed my mother. She was never really the same afterwards. Once I started at the Akademiya, she left too... she got a job in Fontaine and she's lived there since. She remarried a few years ago, a little while before we met— She's happy now, but it took a long time for her to get there.

[ All it took was leaving him behind.

(But how can he begrudge her that, when he took away the person she loved the most?)

Another sigh, and Kaveh wriggles the hand that's still tangled with Tighnari's, almost as if to bury it deeper, seeking comfort from the simple touch. ]

Anyway, like I said, it's coming up on that time of year, and... and I have a lot of work right now, and Alhaitham is Alhaitham, and there was all that stuff with the Akademiya and it's... it's just a bit much.