goodbye -ali-

Kavi was packing up his things. After weeks of searching, he'd finally found a job in Dian that paid well enough to afford him a little studio in the city. He'd be apprenticing with an apothecary, learning how to create medicines derived from plants. It was the perfect job--not only would he be doing something worthwhile that helped clio, he'd get to use his eilemaiden too.

The apartment was...not great. Super tiny, in a downright ancient building. But as an apprentice, he couldn't afford to be choosy. He'd get used to it, he thought. And it would be so, so worth it to be on his own in the city.

His parents had tried to talk him out of it, of course. They called after a certain someone broke her promise and fucking tattled on him like he was a child. If anything it just made him want to move even more. At least in his tiny apartment in the city, no one would be criticizing him and every choice he made.

Kavi had been avoiding Ali like the plague. She knew that he was angry with her for telling their parents, but she had hoped by now he would have forgiven her. Of course, he hadn't, and that was why she was making her way toward his dorm room. She knew she wouldn't be able to convince him to change his mind, but she hoped to at least reconcile with her brother. She was going to miss him once he was gone, she had liked that he lived so close, she could hang out with him whenever they were both free.

When she found his dorm room door, she found that it was left open, and inside was her brother, busy getting packed for his move. Ali frowned and watched him for a moment, then knocked on the door frame. When he brother looked up, she smiled awkwardly and asked, "Can I come in?"

Kavi glanced up when he heard a knock at the door, and rolled his eyes when he saw who it was. "Why?" he asked, immediately turning back to his suitcase. "So you can yell at me again? Or maybe you're looking for something else to rat me out to Mom and Dad about? I have some weed in here, you'd better call them up and tell them."

It wasn't just that she had told on him. It was how beforehand, she has specifically promised not to. Her and their dad were the same, always butting into his life and then wondering why he was pissed when they went behind his back. He couldn't believe he had thought he could even trust her with a secret in the first place. What had he been thinking?

Ali flinched at her brother's tone. She should have expected that, but it still didn't lessen the blow. She looked down and pretended to pick at one of her fingernails.

"I just wanted to talk," she told him. "Help you pack, help you smoke that weed."

She laughed lightly, mostly joking, but hoping maybe it would lighten the mood a little bit. She wished she could go back in time, stop herself from blabbering to their father about Kavi's plans. Even stop herself from starting that fight with him when he first told her about wanting to drop out. Her brother always felt like he wasn't good enough, Ali wished there was a way to show him that he was more than good enough. He was her brother, and she loved him so much.

Kavi didn't laugh. "I don't need any help," he said, shutting his suitcase with slightly more force than necessary and latching it shut. He was practically done packing, and ready to take the first boat out of Martha's Vineyard this weekend. "I'm already almost finished."

He hoisted his suitcase up off the bed and carried it over to the rest of his things in the corner of the room. His roommate didn't seem to care much that he was leaving--in fact Kavi was pretty sure he was happy about it. He'd seemed like he'd like a room to himself.

He looked up. Ali was still standing there, not taking the hint. She was just looking at him. "What?" he demanded.

"Are you just going to be mad at me for the rest of our lives?" Ali asked, her irritation finally bubbling up to the surface, though she hadn't wanted it to. "I'm sorry, Kavi, what more do you want from me?"

Did he want her to beg? Get on her knees and grovel? She got it, she betrayed his trust, but she really was sorry. He was getting what he wanted, he was leaving Redfern for good, he found a decent-sounding job. What more did he want? No family? Was he just going to exile himself from Ali and their parents?

"Maybe I want you to stop thinking you know what's best for me," Kavi snapped, his anger boiling over at the sound of irritation in her voice. Oh, she was sorry. Like it was this one time mistake and she'd never do it again. Like she hadn't been pulling shit like this since they were kids. Being the golden child who could do no wrong, while he got in trouble any time he put a toe out of line. "Maybe I want you to stop going behind my back and whining to Dad every single time I do something you and him don't approve of."

"Well I thought I did," Ali retorted. "I should have never told dad, I regret that, but I thought I was helping."

Gods, why was her brother so dramatic? She came here to apologize, not fight with him. Of course he had to turn it into one. Maybe it would have been better if she had never came at all.

"I didn't want you making some stupid mistake," she tried to explain. "I just wanted to protect you."

Kavi gave a humorless, disbelieving laugh. Did Ali even hear herself when she spoke? "Good to know you think my decisions are stupid," he said, shaking his head. What kind of "apology" did Ali think she was making here? He'd spelled out exactly what she did that annoyed him so much, and then she immediately went and did it again. "Maybe instead of 'protecting' me you should focus more on your own life." He did little air quotes when he said "protecting" because that so was not what she was doing. The idea of her protecting him was fucking laughable.

A throaty noise came from Ali's throat, that sounded like a cross between a growl and an exasperated sigh. "I have a pretty good grip on my own life, thank you." She spat, "Maybe it's you who should get a grip."

She regretted saying that immediately, but she couldn't take it back now. It didn't matter, he was being a jerk.

Kavi just looked at Ali like she was an idiot, completely unimpressed with her response that basically amounted to "no you." What was she even trying to accomplish at this point? "Just go away, Ali," he told her flatly, turning back to the task at hand. "I need to finish packing." Now he was even more eager to move. He couldn't wait to put several miles between himself and his sister so she couldn't just barge in for these super productive conversations anymore.

"Fine, Ekavi," Ali remarked irritably, using her brother's full name. "Go have fun in your dingy little apartment, I hope it's just wonderful for you!"

She turned on her heal, and pushed herself up so dramatically and forcefully, that she actually took flight, blowing anything that wasn't secured in Kavi's room around, including his hair and the clothes he was wearing, as she flew quickly down the hallway, not turning back.