“Hi Ser!” Trismit bounced as he let himself in. “You are home early! Normally you do not get in until late!”
Rethais looked up from his tablet, smiling slightly. “You do know you do not need to call me ser, right? Any parental name is acceptable.”
Trismit shrugged, dumping his bag by the cape rack, wiping his feet and then bouncing over to the table where Rethais was sitting.
“I know, I know. I just… do not know what to call you yet. I want to call you mother or father, but it doesn’t sit right with me…” Trismit trailed off, then jumped up to grab something from the fridge in the kitchen. He spotted a plastic container of leftover stew and poured some of that into a handy nearby bowl. Satisfied, he sat down next to Rethais, only to jump up again as he realised he’d forgotten his spoon.
“You seem rather happy today.”
Trismit plonked himself back down at the table. “I am happy to see you! You are not working!”
“Well, I am on call, may have to pick up the phone and do some tedious management jobs, but yes, you are correct, I am not working right now.”
Trismit smiled some more, then peered over Rethais’s shoulder to see what he was looking at. “So what ARE you up to? I did not know you were into home stuff! Well, aside from gardening. Did not really know you were into that either but at least it means my Macromera gift to you will find use!”
Rethais grunted and leaned the tablet to one side, so Trismit could see too. “Actually, I am looking at available properties. I… was going to keep it a secret until Macromera… but I will be arranging new homes for the three of you. A place for you to call your own.”
Trismit stared blankly at the screen, then back at Rethais. “My… own home?”
“Yes. Every vok gets their own home, silly. The only difference for you three is that I made… arrangements for you all to get something nicer, as you all deserve. After all, the three of you have been doing such vast amounts of charity work over the last few months, not to mention the fact that I have plenty of connections. Would be ill-fitting of me to stick you all in basic housing.”
“My… own home?” Trismit repeated, dumbstruck. “I get my own home to live in, on my own?”
“Of course.”
“Am I… am I ready for that? I have never… actually lived on my own before.”
“Of course you are ready…” Rethais nodded, then paused. “Oh. Forgive me, kid, I, uh, forgot about your past… predicaments. Either way, I still believe you are fully capable of maintaining your own home. Now, the question is, what sort of home would you like?”
Trismit’s eyes lit up. “I get to pick?”
“Yes! You get to pick your…”
A vibration interrupted Rethais’s sentence. His communicator was buzzing. Both Rethais and Trismit sighed.
“Let it ring. It might not be urgent!”
Rethais grunted, waiting for the ringing to stop. Instead, the ringing kept on going, for at least a minute.
“I need to answer that.”
“They will just drag you back into work though.”
“Maybe so, but it is important. If I do not answer, they will keep on calling and calling until I do. Better to get it out of the way now…”
Trismit sighed as Rethais got up and headed to his little office upstairs, taking his communicator with him.
“But they keep on putting you in danger…” Trismit eventually whispered, leaning defeatedly on the table. “I do not want to lose more family…”