[ His eyes narrow. Him, empathetic? Kaveh must be joking. He is the furthest thing from empathetic. And if he knew Kaveh thought of him as kind, he would be angry. ]

I'm merely observant. That's more than you can say for most of the scholars of the Akademiya. The Scribe, a lunatic? Hah. They haven't met a real lunatic if that's how they describe him.

[ Those scholars clearly haven't met him yet. ]

Hat Guy is fine. Lesser Lord Kusanali is the one that chose that name. But if you don't like it, call me whatever you please.