“Retty!”
Retvik did not expect the welcome he got as he returned home. Nyssi, Tenuk and Kayel had all rushed out to hug him tightly. Clearly they were worried sick about him. The large black and red van behind Retvik slammed its doors shut, before driving off, its occupants not sticking around to say goodbye.
“Are you three alright?” Retvik asked as he was dragged inside.
“Are we alright?” Kayel exclaimed. “Mate, you got dragged off by your own government! We were scared they’d kill you or something!”
Retvik broke free from the hug and patted Kayel on the head. “I am fine. I had a very nice chat with my sibling Relkir and Arkay stopped by to make sure that they treated me properly. Unfortunately, Arkay had to leave, but Relkir kindly took me somewhere for dinner, and, as I was still hungry, I asked them if we could stop somewhere and I grabbed some takeaway food.”
“Wait… isn’t Relkir your brother or something?” Nyssi asked.
“Sibling.”
“What’s the difference?”
With a grunt, Retvik headed inside, bringing everyone with him. He closed the door, double-checked to make sure it was definitely locked, then made his way to the living area, where he began unpacking packs of meat and noodles. For Tenuk, Retvik had gotten a seasoned rice and a collection of sugary dips, a BBQ beef dish awaited Nyssi and he’d gotten a standard noodle and chicken mix for Kayel and himself. Nyssi brought over a few drinks, amazingly nothing alcoholic, and everyone sat down close to Retvik. A little too close.
“You are all acting weird.”
“Says the guy who got taken away in a military truck, driven across town and probably interrogated for hours!” Tenuk tutted, sticking his finger into one of the sauces to see what it tasted like. “We were all genuinely worried. We’ve all got rocky pasts and problems with authority, so our best friend getting dragged off all of a sudden after finally getting your shitty past off your chest in a public manner is going to terrify us!”
Retvik sighed, then apologised. “I am sorry for scaring you all. I did not mean to. And the whole conversation turned out to be somewhat beneficial in the end. Although I am very, very thankful that you guys alerted Arkay and got him to come and find me.”
“Knew he’d help out!” Kayel exclaimed, pointing at Nyssi. “You owe me five Evra.”
Nyssi frowned, then put her food down and stomped up to her bedroom. After some rummaging around in her bag, she returned and threw a note of paper in Kayel’s direction, before going back to her food, changing the conversation.
“So is Relkir the brother… uuh… sibling you sacrificed yourself for?” Nyssi asked between mouthfuls of sticky meat.
Retvk nodded. “Yes. I have not seen them since we were 18. It was… nice to see them. We spoke a little bit. They were proud and thankful of me. I was proud of them too, they now work as an advisor to the High General.”
“You mean your other sibling?” Kayel interrupted. “The one you kinda insulted after you beat up Kayess-En? The asshole that won’t let you be a normal Rethan?”
“I would… appreciate it if you did not insult-”
“He’s literally in charge of your entire fucking backwards species!” Nyssi also butted in. “Could just undo all the stupid exile shit and let you not be an exile and all that, but nooo, he’s sat on his fancy throne being in charge and not helping his siblings or whatever you call yourselves!”
“Nyssi, you just called my-”
“Shut it, Retty! You went out and berated your own kind for exiling you, then literally like an hour later a black van showed up to drag you away! You Rethans ARE fucking backwards! You’re just as fucked up as the rest of the Twelve!”
Retvik backed down. He knew Nyssi was mostly right. But not completely. “They… initially just wished to talk to me about our meetings with the Holy Four…” Retvik slowly admitted. “My outburst and their timing were mostly coincidental. But, I must admit, you are right…”
“Of course I’m right.”
“Could be a little nicer about it though…” Tenuk tutted. “We’re all from fucked up families. Except Kayel, we know nothing about your family.”
Kayel shrugged, having swallowed a large mouthful of noodles. “To be honest, I know nothing about my family either.”
“You don’t know who your mum is?” Nyssi blinked.
“Nope. No idea.”
“Why?” The idea of not knowing one’s parents was almost incomprehensible to Nyssi, and she was blatantly aware that her own parents were reformed criminals. “Like, are you an orphan or something? Is this because Skyavok eggs are so easy to look after or something?”
“Yeah, probably…” Kayel shrugged some more. “It’s easy to get an abortion, but egg gestation only takes three weeks, the eggs are tiny and tough and take two months to hatch. L-Class looks after all the orphans and the other Classes take who they like the look of…” Kayel paused, then turned back to Retvik. “So your sibling didn’t want to punish you or anything?”
“No, thankfully. In fact, Relkir wanted to use me in order arrange a meeting with Arkay. For political reasons I have been blissfully unaware of. It turns out we have ancient treaties with the Torr that bar us from running our own mining facilities, and the Rethan government wanted to know how to end those treaties. Weirdly, Arkay actually did offer some help, but only after speaking to the Panelix.”
Nyssi let out a little laugh. “You guys are kinda fucked then. We’ve all met the Panelix. She ain’t exactly nice. Well, we did. You went with Arkay and the Timebringer outside the universe, Tenuk, Kayel, me and the Raptor, we all sat and had a meal with the Holy Lifebringer and the Starbringer and somehow the deity that captured us and experimented on us was more pleasant to talk to…” Nyssi sighed briefly. “It’s still kinda hard coming to terms with the fact that the deity I prayed to constantly, she went mad and attacked us.”
“I kinda wonder if things are always this crazy, or if it’s just been this crazy since we became immortal?” Tenuk asked, licking all the sauce out from one of the containers. He had admittedly hardly touched the rice, mostly because it always sat in his stomach like a brick. “Like, surely, the gods have always had these problems?”
Kayel finished off his box of food then helped himself to Tenuk’s order of rice. “It’s always been crazy, we’re just privy to it now. Although I am kinda curious, I wonder if Arkay has ever had other mortal friends like us?”
“How would we even find out?” Nyssi blinked.
“Surely there’d be archives of such a thing…” Kayel shrugged yet again. “I mean, us Skyavok exist, we write fucking everything down and we’re one of Arkay’s chosen races. Or we could just ask Arkay next time we see him.”
“True, true…” Nyssi glanced at Retvik, who had gone rather quiet. “You alright, Retty?”
Retvik grunted, staring blankly at his uneaten food. “I… never actually arranged any time off work with the Raptor…”
Kayel smiled, scooting up close to Retvik and putting an arm around him (or at least attempting to). “You look tired. You should go to bed, then call Phovos in the morning and arrange some time off. I’m sure she can find some gladiator work for the rest of us to do while you have a much deserved holiday.”
“What about this mess though?”
“We’ll clean it all up!” Kayel chirped. “Go on. Get out of that armour, have a shower, get some rest. You’ve had a Darkness-damned day, you deserve some peace.”
With a sigh, Retvik relented and staggered to his feet. “You are right as always, Kayel. Good night, friends…”