nealuchi | the odds are don't look far

Title: the odds are don't look far
Fandom: Fate/Grand Order
Character(s): David, Avicebron
Pairing(s): None
Genre: General
Word Count: 874
Rating: G
Warnings: Part 1 spoilers
Summary: David and Avicebron deal with the issue of being the only Jews in Chaldea.
Notes:

Servants are summoned knowing all commonly used modern languages, but for convenience’s sake, they mostly end up using the same one. In the halls of Chaldea it’s English, that being the common language among the surviving staff. In private with their Master, it’s Japanese, their native language.

When Servants do switch to other languages, it’s mostly out of sentiment. No matter what tongue they speak in, other Servants will understand them completely, so it’s useless for secret conversations. But Marie and Mozart will reminisce in French, Romulus and Nero will talk history in Latin, Nitocris relays her admiration to Ozymandias in Egyptian Arabic, and so forth.

A language uncommonly heard is Hebrew. David speaks the ancient version natively; Martha speaks more Aramaic, and can’t stand David’s company besides. Not until Avicebron’s arrival do two dedicated Hebrew speakers exist in the same place.

“My king, King of Israel-”

“Oh, stop,” says David, before Avicebron can get into ‘melech’ this and ‘melech’ that. “I’m summoned as a simple shepherd, and I want to be treated like one.”

It’s impossible to read Avicebron’s expression, but the tone of voice suggests reluctance. “…As you wish.”

David claps Avicebron on the shoulder, barely noticing his tiny flinch. “Now that that’s out of the way! I’m glad to see you here. I haven’t heard a shofar blown in ages, we didn’t even have one for the High Holidays - oh, can you blow a shofar?”

“I can’t,” Avicebron says. “I’d run out of breath in the middle of teki’ah.”

“That’s what I thought,” says David, with absolutely no thought to tact about Avicebron’s weakness. “Then, we’ll find a ram and you’ll make one from its horn, and I’ll play it this year.”

After that, Avicebron’s workshop is a flurry of activity. Between his golem work and his time in the training simulator, he can be found boiling horns, carving an ark out of wood and gemstone, drawing plans for a movable base with directional magecraft so that the ark can always be facing Jerusalem, carving up a mezuzah-

“I don’t have the qualifications of a scribe,” Avicebron says. If his eyes were visible, he’d surely be staring into the empty ark. “Religiously observant and knowledgeable of the laws, yes, but the requirement of good character…”

“I don’t either.” David supposes he should be offended that Avicebron doesn’t contest that, but all he is is tired. “What are the odds we can get a scroll when we stop for supplies?”

“Unlikely, even if we had the money to spare. In our current situation, food and medical supplies are a much higher priority.” Avicebron closes the ark. “Until our circumstances allow us to obtain scrolls without placing the staff at risk, the relevant principle is that saving a life overrides those commandments. …At least we have the shofar.”

“Excuse me~ Am I interrupting?”

It’s Leonardo da Vinci, poking her head into Avicebron’s workshop. Avicebron nods for her to come in.

“Da Vinci,” David says, with the usual smile. “What can we do for you?”

“It’s the other way around this time, I’m helping you!” Her smile fades. “I didn’t think of it earlier, but Dr. Roman…” Here she pauses, and looks to David as if to ask if that is the name she should be using.

“Dr. Roman,” David repeats. He hasn’t talked about Solomon to Avicebron. He will never willingly talk about Solomon. Even if he were with another Servant who knew - that person was Dr. Roman.

“Roman left a number of possessions, and I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of any of them after…” She shakes her head and moves on. “I know some of them have religious uses, but I don’t know how to handle them kosher-ly, let alone what they’re called. Maybe you two could come and take a look for me?”

“We would be grateful,” Avicebron says, with no hesitance at all. Why should he hesitate?

Leonardo leads them to a cabinet that has clearly been stocked by someone who doesn’t know what any of this is. The yad is on a different shelf from the torah scroll. The etrog has a note that says ‘do not eat’. The tallit is housed among the cosplay pieces.

David is too busy ignoring all of his own feelings to pay attention to Avicebron’s reaction, at least until he hears him laugh. It’s more of a wheeze than anything, but an amused wheeze nonetheless.

“This will take some sorting,” he says.

About ten minutes into clearing the cabinet of the useful items and arranging them properly, David finds a piece of paper. The Hebrew is ancient, and something that might be difficult for even other Servants to read properly, not least because vowels are a recent invention.

The paper says:

‘I was not wrong. I have made many mistakes, but following God was not one of them and could never be one of them.’

David reads the note over once again before passing it to Avicebron. Avicebron murmurs the words as he reads it, before falling silent.

As many mistakes as he’s made, Uriah and Absalom and Jonathan-

(As many mistakes as he’s made, sacrificing a child for his own futile dream-)

In this one thing, they were not wrong.