“You have news, Tessar?”
Tessar was the General of Deitic Affairs, and they had been very busy over the last few days. But they had reached the end of their research and had requested a meeting between them, the Generals of the Legions of External and Hidden Affairs and the High General. They had also requested that General Ritlir, the General of Hidden Internal Affairs, be present, but Ritlir was busy with both more and less important matters.
“I do, yes. It is to do with the official statements coming from the Lady of Light and the new Lady of Time. And Litvir. Mostly Litvir.”
Rethais was sitting on their throne, going through paperwork, reading a summary of what Tessar was about to say. Lysar was sat by their side, Hasvik was by the window, glancing out of it. Tessar was rather dishevelled and not in any real state to be talking to the High General, but they had a lot to say.
“What about Litvir?”
“Litvir is… bad at keeping secrets…” Tessar admitted. “I sat down with Litvir as soon as I could, so I could ask what happened, doubly so since Relkir was present and I have not been able to debrief them, and Litvir immediately told me pretty much everything. What Litvir told me goes against what the Lady of Light stated.”
Rethais leaned forward. “Why did Litvir give you a different statement.”
“Litvir… somewhat fears me and many of the Below Twenty Generals, because we are strangers to them, and Litvir is also still a baby. Litvir has… not an issue with authority, but an issue with overly bowing down to authority. If I say jump, Litvir jumps, asks how high then waits for an answer then jumps again once they get an answer.”
Lysar snickered slightly, quietly agreeing with Tessar’s words. Rethais gave them an odd look, then grunted.
“I see. So, what did Litvir say?”
“That… that your sibling was the one who killed the Whenvern, not the Ladies of Light and Time.”
Rethais blinked. Lysar and Hasvik blinked too.
“What?”
“That… that is what Litvir said to me.”
Hasvik continued to blink. “You… you are suggesting that… that… that Relkir, the High Advisor…” Hasvik glanced at Rethais briefly. “I apologise for saying this but… you are saying that the High Advisor, a notable non-combatant; someone who has only ever intentionally harmed one person and that person was threatening them; someone who refused to carry a General’s Blade and Rethais had to, in person, tell them to shut up and carry a weapon; someone who, when they went Defensive Stance for the first time, leaned so heavily on the “defensive” part of going Defensive Stance that all they did was carry people to safety; THAT is the person who killed the Whenvern?”
Tessar stuttered, then nodded. “Yes. Litvir said as much.”
Hasvik turned to Lysar and Rethais. “I think Tessar has lost their mind.”
“I… I think some more explanations are needed…” Rethais was confused as well. “We know Relkir was present, and they went Defensive Stance, but it was reported that they were doing as any good Rethan should, they were busy defending the weak and were helping with evacuations when the event occurred. And Relkir only went Defensive Stance when they saw Litvir getting hurt.”
“That is true, Relkir was originally doing as all good Rethans do…” Tessar was trying their best to explain. “But Litvir told me that, when they went Defensive Stance, they completely lost their mind, leaped down from an upper level that had been destroyed, landed on the Whenvern’s neck and then proceeded to repeatedly stab the Whenvern in the head with their General’s Blade until the Twelve Anew could seal the corrupted Dragon of Time in some sort of crystal.”
“Oh come on!” Hasvik almost shouted. “That is ludicrous! Relkir is a silly little pacifist! Not even the Rethianos who was a bloody gladiator would jump down onto a deity and attack them with just a dagger!”
“Um… actually…” Tessar flicked though a folder. “Um… I think Retvik… did actually do that once. Perhaps more than once. According to the previous General of Deitic Affairs. Although, as an aside, I have to ask, what is it with the Rethianos Tradition and daggers?”
“What do you mean?” Rethais asked back.
“You, Relkir and Retvik all seem or seemed to prefer daggers over the normal Bloodline Tradition weapon of a polearm gun-staff. You in particular, Kyr Rethais, you carry multiple daggers alongside your normal High General’s Blade.”
Rethais thought for a moment, then just shrugged. “The Bloodline Traditions having a standard weapon was always weird to me. But for the Rethianoi, it actually runs in the family. Revan and Relkalis both preferred daggers, as did previous generations… Still, that is besides the point. I will be blunt, I do not believe that Relkir is capable of, well, harming anyone, let alone killing someone, let alone killing the Dragon of Time. Especially since Relkir is just as mortal as everyone else in this room.”
“But Litvir… Litvir said what I just explained in my report!” Tessar protested.
“Sure, but, no offence, High General, Litvir is… somewhat stupid AND a child. They may be exaggerating. Or lying…” Hasvik shrugged. “Or maybe hallucinating and misremembering? I am pretty sure you also stated in your report that Litvir was under the affects of some unknown medication provided by Kyr Syksis, the Goddess of Medicine.”
Rethais glanced at Hasvik. “Please do not call my nibling stupid.”
“Fair enough. But in all honesty, I do not think we will get any real clarification on this until we debrief Relkir!” Hasvik continued. “Perhaps Lysar can send a team to keep an eye on them?”
Lysar nodded in agreement. “I can do that, yes. Was planning on doing so anyway since Relkir was… caught in a messy situation.”
“Very well. Lysar, there is no need to send a team, just call the local Protection Legion and ask them to check in. Hasvik, I need you to assist Tessar, because we will need to make some statements in the next few days. But in the mean time, I want you to keep Relkir, and anyone who happened to be present, out of the media. And Tessar, speak to Litvir and tell them to keep quiet and stick to only the words that the Ladies Above have stated, if they are asked by anyone about what happened. Is there anything else we need to cover? Or am I free to go through this report and come back to you later?”
Tessar bowed slightly. “You are free to do so, Kyr Rethais.”
“Very well. General Hasvik, General Tessar, you may leave.”
Hasvik and Tessar did as they were told. Lysar remained for a moment.
“Are you going to speak to Relkir?”
“Yes, but not now. They went Defensive Stance, they are going to be tired, and it is late in Thresisa now.”
Lysar shrugged. “Fair. I am sure Relkir did nothing wrong though.”
Rethais frowned. “I am not so sure. But if what Tessar said is true… Relkir may have saved the entire universe by accident…”
“I mean, I doubt it.”
“That there is the problem… Still, there is nothing we can do right now. We just need to get a definite answer from Relkir themselves…”