It felt wrong, not wearing heavy armour.
Litvir always wore armour. The strong, metal armour. They needed to, as it was their duty to protect the universe, and, in order to do that, Litvir had to protect themselves. Today though, Litvir was wearing casual armour. Similar to what everyone else was wearing. Litvir only had the one set of casual armour, it was made of a light purple plastic and didn’t have any shoulder protection or anything. Nothing to cover Litvir’s stupidly sharp higher-caste strips. Then again, Litvir’s shoulder strips were the least of their problems. Most Rethans normally lost the sharp strip on their snout after a few months from hatching, but, despite being teenager-sized, Litvir still had that sharp strip and it didn’t seem to be getting smaller.
In fact, the morning overall had been weird. Everything was quieter. People were paying less attention to Litvir, since they were wearing the same casual armour as everyone else. Also, Litvir wasn’t wearing their cape. That made a difference. Litvir did like their cape, but it made a change to just wear a scarf. Scarfs were the latest trend among teenager Rethans. Litvir wondered if that would make them fit in a bit more.
No one had mentioned that Litvir looked different though. In fact, no one had really talked to Litvir in general. Admittedly, the only people who spoke to Litvir were teachers during lessons. Most teenage Rethans stuck together in little groups and rarely even approached Litvir. They knew that other Rethans thought bad things about Litvir though. That they were weird and ugly. Sure, no one ever said that out loud, but Litvir had telepathy and picked those things up.
The last two lessons were a double maths lesson, which Litvir never liked. But right now, it was recess. A fifteen minute break before the next two lessons. But Litvir rarely got to have a quiet recess. They always had things to do. Most recesses, Litvir would spend time in the study halls, doing their homework from previous lessons, or they’d just sit on their own, hoping nothing needed doing.
Right now though, Litvir was just sitting on a bench, watching other kids run around, chasing a 2.5m inflatable ball across the sports field. Litvir had considered trying to join in, as the big ball game looked pretty fun, but Litvir decided to just stay away for a bit and watch. Mostly because they didn’t really know how to play, outside of getting the massive ball into one of the ditches on either side of the field. Litvir probably would have accidentally popped the ball anyway, with their stupidly sharp strips.
The bell rang, signalling that recess was over. Litvir would have been upset, but recess had been pretty quiet and calm for a change. However, the bell rang again, three times, meaning that Litvir had to and line up alongside their class mates, for an assembly.
Being a rather orderly species, the young Rethans did get to the main hall and into position very quickly, and without any real instructions. Waiting for them on stage was Captain Mathenon, the school’s headmaster. Assemblies like this were common, and were mostly there so that the headmaster could make announcements.
Litvir wasn’t really paying much attention at first, but all of a sudden, a ripple of quiet cheers ran across the students. Something about an extended recess, as the teachers all had a special meeting or something. A teachers’ meeting? Litvir wasn’t sure. But as soon as the headmaster dismissed everyone, most of the kids ran back to play more games. And Litvir did get a little caught up in that.
But once the majority of kids had passed, Litvir found themselves wandering around a quieter area, a little flower garden, before sitting down on an empty bench.
All of a sudden, Litvir looked up, to see some standing near them.
“Hi.”
“Hello…”
“May I join you?”
Litvir glanced around, then nodded. “Sure, Miisa.”
Miisa was in the same year as Litvir, and they were also top of their class. Litvir could tell because Miisa also had a yellow belt with a gold medallion on it. Despite being 15 years old, Miisa was very small. Most Rethan kids grew in spurts, and Miisa was closing in on their 16th-year growth. However, Litvir was quite tall, even compared to adult Rethans, and Litvir assumed they wouldn’t have any other growth spurts. Miisa was also quite a delicate kid, and their natural plating was a nice shade of lilac, but they always wore dull grey casual armour on top.
Miisa sat down calmly, but didn’t say anything at first. Litvir didn’t say anything either. They had no idea what to say.
“How are you, Litvir?” Miisa eventually asked.
“Um…” Litvir wasn’t really sure themselves. “I… I do not know. Are you alright, Miisa?”
Miisa nodded. “Saw you on your own. But actually here. I do not know where you go during break times normally. Also, you are wearing casual armour. How comes?”
Litvir sighed. “It is complicated. And stupid. And very silly.”
“Pretending you are not a deity is silly too.”
“It is, yes.”
Miisa frowned. “Why do you pretend? We all know.”
“I do not know. Kyr Dalosisaar says I need to be a bit normal. I want to be normal but I cannot.”
Miisa twisted around and took a better look at Litvir. “You seem sad.”
“I am sad. And tired.”
“Understandable. Is it… true… that you are actually a baby?”
Litvir grunted. “Not just baby. Stupid baby.”
Both Rethans fell silent. Litvir sighed some more then stared at the floor, looking at the pretty flowers. Miisa occasionally glanced at Litvir, but otherwise just fiddled with the little bag they were carrying. After a while, Miisa opened their bag up and pulled two items from it.
“Litvir?”
“Yes?”
“I… I…” Miisa stuttered. “I… I made something for you.”
“You… you did?”
“Yes…” Miisa placed something in Litvir’s hand. “You have a lot of bad luck. It is not fair.”
Litvir blinked, inspecting the item with confusion. It was a small, wooden disk attached to some pink ribbon, with an odd symbol carved on it. A diamond shape and a V shape. “You… are giving me your lucky charm?”
Miisa nodded. “Yes… Well, kinda. It is a new lucky charm. But I made two. One for me, one for you. Because you defended me. You are a good person. Despite the bad luck. And even though you are a baby.”
“T-thank you…” Litvir was also stuttering now. “I… I do not know what to say.”
“Sometimes we do not need to say or do anything. We should just be.”
Again, the two young Rethans fell silent. They remained there, quietly looking at the pretty flowers, until a school bell snapped them both back to reality.
“Hmph. Break time is over…” Litvir muttered.
Miisa though simply smiled. “That is fine. We have art class now. Do you want to sit next to me?”
“I… I would like that, yes…”