Retvik wasn’t sure how to feel as he was dragged into the private quarters of Lightblade. He hadn’t had much say in anything so far, and it seemed that Litvir and Lightblade’s psionic partner Soulblade had had some sort of telepathic conversation and had subtly suggested Lightblade just “go for it”. Whatever that meant.
For a moment, Retvik mostly stood in the doorway, while Lightblade hurriedly searched for something. It turned out he was looking for a remote control, and when he did find it, there was an odd smile on Lightblade’s face.
“Uh, Lightblade, are you alright?”
“In here, you may call me Phos. May I call you Retvik?”
Retvik grunted. “Well, yes, of course. That is my name, after all.”
“Ah, I forget you Thantir prefer original names over codenames. Either way, I would like to spend some fine time with a fine specimen. I politely asked Psehon if I could spend time with you and he said I may. So, may I spend time with you?”
Retvik hesitated, then glanced down at himself. Phos wasn’t wrong. He was a fine specimen. Probably one of the finest Rethan specimens ever. He was also 3m tall and on fire. But Phos was a whole metre taller than him, maybe more.
“Uh… is there something in particular you want?”
“Right now? Just your presence is enough. That may change, but we will take things slow.”
Retvik hesitated some more. “You just want to spend time with me?”
“Indeed. Psehon and Telin, Telin in particular, they are bitterly, painfully cold lately. They do not want me. I am literally the perfect Beh’en specimen, and they do not want me at all. Not even in a casual dating manner. I want to spend some time with someone who… might be a little more accepting.”
“So you want a date. With me. You know I am not a Beh’en, yes?”
Phos smiled. “I do, yes. But you could definitely pretend to be one. A short, young, bladeless Beh’en, but one nonetheless. An attractive one too. However, I very much doubt you have problems with different species spending time together. After all, little Deathbringer clearly isn’t the same species as you.”
“That is a fair point!” Retvik smiled back. “So, what do you want to do on this date?”
The smile on Phos’s face turned into a rather satisfied and somewhat demented grin. He fiddled with the remote control, then pressed a few buttons. The otherwise plain bedroom swiftly began to change. The carpets remained a thick, shaggy mess, but the lights dimmed, the sound of water ripples began to play and two tables appeared. One table was set up with a minibar by the side, two bottles of mead and something that smelled genuinely very nice. The other was a bedside table with a lit candle and something on it in the shape of a heart.
“How about we start with a fine meal?” Phos suggested as he led Retvik over to the table. “What would you like to drink, dear?”
Retvik sat down, inspecting the meal that was already fresh and steaming hot. It was just meat, potatoes and gravy, but that was admittedly the sort of thing Retvik liked.
“Uh… how about some mead?”
“Of course! I have some very good mead here.”
Phos grabbed a very dark bottle from the minibar and poured a drink for both himself and Retvik. Feeling somewhat nervous, Retvik accidentally drank most of his mead rather quickly, and Phos seemed to do the same, before topping up both their glasses. The glasses were glass jugs, but the handles were hollow and filled with a liquid and some glitter.
“So, why are you three actually here?” Phos asked. “Because, now you are here, I do not buy the fact that you were just… stopping by.”
“Well… we were…” Retvik sipped his drink more slowly this time. It was really nice mead though. “We were literally just stopping by. But as we stepped off the ship, Litvir seemed to think something was wrong. So we are doing what we do best and are offering our assistance…” Retvik paused briefly. “What is this mead? It is genuinely really tasty.”
Phos inspected the bottle, then topped up his and Retvik’s glasses again. “Boltchiazic Hollow-Nest mead. There are a handful of cold Warmths in the Justarian Circle and this one was emptied out and turned into a brewery by the last Beh’ena there, as she was no longer fertile and liked irony. So you have nothing to do with Lord Kengana sticking his beaked face into things? I normally do not have a problem with the bird-man, but why is it a problem if we are depressed if we are doing our jobs?”
Retvik grunted. “Maybe Lord Kengana just wants to make sure you are healthy. You do run an eradicator sect after all, you are beings of great power, it is important that you are of sound of mind.”
“Fair, I guess…”
Phos downed his drink and poured himself some more, then went back to his food. He and Retvik did seem to eat and drink in relative silence, but for Retvik, that was somewhat normal. However, as time passed, Retvik noticed that Phos was stealing a lot of glances at him. And they had nearly finished that bottle of mead.
“You are very attractive, you know.”
“I am told that a lot…” Retvik muttered.
“Well, it is true. I do envy you somewhat. I am getting older and less attractive…” Phos grunted.
“To be fair, so am I. But you are definitely far more attractive than most Beh’ens.”
Phos glanced up at Retvik. “Really?”
“Yes. But admittedly, I cannot really tell past all your armour…” Retvik suddenly paused, then looked at his mug of mead. It was mostly empty. Retvik wondered if he was slightly drunk or not.
“I bet you are a perfect stud without all that armour on…” Phos smiled a little. “Probably with perfect abs and a perfect little butt as well…” Phos also suddenly paused. “Hmph. I forgot. You are a hermaphrodite.”
“A… a what?”
“You are male and female…” Phos paused yet again. “I have not laid with a female in a very long time…” Another pause, but this was a more shocked one. “I am sorry. I should not have said that out loud.”
Retvik thought for a moment, then finished off the rest of his mead. “You are horny.”
“I am, yes.”
“Well… me too. I am also slightly drunk.”
“Same here.”
Retvik thought some more. “Hm… Well… Litvir said it was enjoyable, sleeping with a Beh’en… And I have been… curious for a long time… And I have female genitalia… I cannot believe I am actually considering this.”
Phos tutted. “You do not have to if you do not want to.”
“But I do want to. I just need way more mead first.”
There was a rather surprised but excited glimmer in Phos’s eyes. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“Well!” Phos grinned as he refilled both his and Retvik’s glasses. “Shall we get some more mead and retire to the bed?”
“Eh, sure. Might be fun.”
“If you are willing, I will give you the best ride of your life.”
Retvik looked up at Phos, downed his drink then grinned back. “Prove it.”
“Sure thing, darling.”