[ 'had' midnight said. kaveh has lived with the most infuriating haravatat known to mankind. it's a tense that kaveh knows well. but he doesn't do much more than note it, carefully shifting so that there's space for midnight on the cot. circulation returns to his thigh. netzach had been the weight of a small bird in hand, a duskbird in spring. midnight is the weight of a carved-edge sea. it's not necessarily his mass, so much as it's the weight of his being. kaveh thinks - the sword he'd made for midnight based on his best estimate of his weight was off by a margin. he'll have to go and shave it a little, have it properly balanced.

still: ]

Then you're a poor scholar. Age certainly hasn't done your self-preservation any good. The only thing you're my senior in is orneriness, and that's hardly anything to be proud of. [ midnight shifts. kaveh shifts with him. drawing plans, kaveh thinks, can be put on hold. he nudges midnight, then bears his weight down, slides him back onto the bed with a grimace. ]

Bribery. [ kaveh says, obfuscating, ] Or hostage-taking. One of the two. But there really isn't much to tell. The haunted house robbed him of his autonomy, as it did to many people. He bit me when he wasn't himself. [ kaveh stops. kaveh starts again. he's never been a particularly good liar. ] ... truth of the matter is, we're not on speaking terms right now.