I know. You gave Netzach a fright. [ midnight squirms, and sighs. kaveh, who hasn't slept in five days, looks. ]

And perhaps I didn't expect it so much as I wanted it. [ kaveh stills. it came at the heels of a rejoinder, it came at the heels of blame. but kaveh says it, and it feels true. he wanted it, just a little, for the choice to have been made. hadn't he been like this with alhaitham, too? that he had wanted alhaitham to choose to say so, to tell him so, whether it was needed or not.

the guilt comes immediately. it sits as a pool at the bottom of a derelict well. ] No, forget what I said. [ kaveh says, after a beat. he hunkers down until he and midnight are fully at eyelevel. he leans in until their foreheads touch. ] I- [ kaveh's throat hurts, for the words that need to be said, that want to be said. kaveh should not want things. there is so much that he wants. ] Just spare a thought, Midnight. For those of us who love you. Spare a thought for me, mm? Because the next time you are harmed beyond repair, and the next, and the next, I will have to reach in and break you in half for it.