“Hey…”
The little voice echoed underneath the door. Retvik sat up, noticing the flickering of beings standing outside. The gap between door and floor was miniscule, but enough light poured in from outside for him to be able to guess who was out there, even before they knocked. Wanting to be interrupted on his own terms, Retvik flicked the light blanket off himself then headed to the door, very abruptly opening it up and addressing the beings outside.
“What do you two want? We are supposed to be resting.”
“They said nothing about where we should be resting though!” Arkadin playfully exclaimed. “Or anything about how long we needed to actually rest for. But that’s kinda why I’m here.”
Retvik wearily rubbed his eyes, then turned to the other being. “Why is Litvir here then?”
“I could not sleep…” Litvir admitted. “I am… not used to this new living system. Nor do I seem to, well, need sleep that much any more.”
“My point is,” Arkadin interrupted, nudging Litvir forwards. Or at least attempting to, since the little Decayling wasn’t particularly imposing. “Can we come in, because I want to discuss something with you both and I don’t want to do it in the more public spaces, for fear of being overheard.”
Retvik took a deep breath, then relented, standing to one side, allowing Arkadin to usher Litvir inside. Once they were both in, Retvik gently pulled the door closed.
“So what is the problem? Why do you seem so concerned?”
Arkadin glanced around the room, not sure where to sit. Litvir just plonked himself on the edge of Retvik’s bed, not really caring that it was still warm from where Retvik had been recently sleeping.
“It’s about the Decay Lords and what we’ve been doing lately. Or rather, how we haven’t really been doing anything and they’re giving us minimal instructions. Sure, they’re giving us some sort of routine, but I feel like they’re… just watching us, waiting to see what we’ll do.”
“You feel like we are being tested, Arkadin?” Retvik asked.
After a moment of looking around, Arkadin finally settled down, leaning against Retvik’s desk, doing his best not to make a mess. “Kinda maybe? But not completely. It’s like they… want us to do something. But I can’t explain it. As strange as it sounds, you’ve been around the three Decay Lords for longer, maybe you can fathom what they’re up to?”
Retvik shrugged, taking a second to think over Arkadin’s query. “Are you worried about them?”
“Kinda…” Arkadin admitted. “I was kinda fine with it all until Litvir here suggested that maybe they wanted us to be like them, then immediately followed that up with the idea that they are in some sort of romantic relationship.”
“I did not say that, yellow one!” Litvir growled. “I said that they have a curious connection together, one that goes beyond your standard romantic relationship. They are siblings of blood, tied together by aeons of working and living as a single unit.”
Retvik seemed to nod in agreement. “Perhaps they want to retire and are training us to be a team, to work as their replacements. Vikalos may seem somewhat young but both Galyn and Itaviir appear to be genuinely ancient.”
“Yeah well…” Arkadin sighed. “That leads me onto my second issue. Would you two… even want the three of us to be some sort of team?”
Both Litvir and Retvik glanced at each other, then nodded.
“It would not be a problem.”
“Would be very interesting.”
“Oh…” Arkadin seemed to deflate a little. “So you’re fine with all this?”
“Yes.”
“Indeed,” Retvik grunted, wandering over towards Arkadin. “But you do not seem so thrilled.”
“Nah, it’s just…” Arkadin paused. “I dunno. Feels too sudden, if you know what I mean? And it feels like they’re just… waiting for us to go and do something.”
Retvik had no answer. But Litvir simply shrugged. “We should do something then.”
“Like what?”
“I do not know. But we should do something… Preferably something interesting yet not too dangerous… Just interesting enough to get the heart going…”