“You broke quarantine.”
“I do not care.”
“You broke a lot of things.”
Tenuk grunted as he sat down in the co-pilot seat, next to Retvik. They were both angry but for vastly different reasons. Retvik was watching the navigation screen. The ship was on autopilot, floating in orbit around Portalia, waiting for permission to get into the lower atmosphere then land in Palaestra. Unfortunately, there was a lot of air traffic as a huge number of Temthic beings were returning to their homes for a religious event of theirs.
“We should not have-”
“Are you really going to argue with me? Over the damn quarantines? It was not a biological quarantine in any way. It was a mental quarantine!”
“That’s not the point…” Tenuk sighed. “We could face penalties for breaking quarantines. And flying over international speed limits. How did you know what Rethais was doing anyway?”
Retvik closed his eyes, rubbing them with exhaustion. “He has been sending me messages about Elkay for weeks now. We are incredibly lucky that we just happened to be as close as we were. Had we been even a few miles further away…”
“But you got there mere moments before…”
Retvik stared at Tenuk. Tenuk tutted.
“It was too… convenient, Retvik. You going there and stopping one brother from murdering another. It was almost as if there was a hint of divine intervention or something. There was no feasible way that we could have gotten there in time!”
Retvik hesitated. There was a look of confusion on his face. “Are you… are you upset that I broke the quarantine or are you upset that we performed a miracle?”
“Both!” Tenuk snapped. “Not only did you break the quarantine guidelines, which I should point out that YOU were most worried about, but we somehow broke the laws of space and time in managing to arrive at that little Skyan world in order to save your dumb half-brother!”
Suddenly, Psiksi entered the room. Tenuk and Retvik both immediately fell silent, hoping that Psiski wasn’t paying attention. Unfortunately for them both, he was.
“Did you stop Rethais from being a murderer then?” Psiksi asked as he sat down behind Tenuk.
Retvik nodded. “Yes.”
“Why did he want to murder the former High General of the Retha again?”
Tenuk turned to Retvik. “That is a great question. Oh great Retvik, tell us why the High General tried to kill the former High General?”
“I do not appreciate the sarcasm, Tenuk…” Retvik tutted. “But as far as I know, this was because Rethais always saw Elkay as a threat. Why? I do not know. But the fact that there is a third Rethianos in a generation has ALWAYS caused issues. The last time this happened, during the ninth generation, one birth came out with twins and the elder sibling was brutally murdered over a power struggle. Elkay’s situation is… messier, but it has been dealt with now.”
Psiksi’s head tilted to one side. After some furious blinking, he awkwardly looked at Tenuk. “Uh… what is he on about?”
“Retvik’s part of a retarded bloodline purity test thing and each generation’s only supposed to have 2 siblings. But his dad was a cheating cock and secretly had a third kid.”
“Wait, Elkay Theanon is your brother?” Psiksi turned back to Retvik. “That’s awesome! He’s nice. Nicest Rethan I’ve ever met.”
“Half brother…” Retvik snorted.
“Who’s the mother?”
“No one knows.”
“Oh…” Psiksi turned back to Tenuk. “So why are you angry at Retvik again?”
“Because we broke quarantine laws.”
Psiksi shrugged. “It was just drugs. Not like, bacteria or anything. We didn’t even leave the ship. And the heat from leaving and re-entering atmospheres would have destroyed anything nasty, right?”
“Well, it’s not just that…” Tenuk muttered. “We were assisted by a god on our way here. There was no way we could have made it to stop Rethais in time, except with some sort of godly intervention! That’s what I am worried about!”
The little Skyan started blinking in confusion again. “You are worried about divine intervention? You, uh, do realise that, not too long ago… we kinda stopped a death god from being super death-y? And we’ve had like, tons of interactions with the four gods of space, time, life and death?”
“Yes but…”
“But what?” Psiksi was genuinely confused. “Why are you scared now?”
“Because I do not know who helped us!” Tenuk explained. “Someone wanted Elkay alive.”
“Or maybe it was just a miracle?” Psiksi suggested. “Like, not every miracle is because a god specifically wills it…”
Tenuk sighed, then got up from his seat. “Eh, whatever. This will probably come back to bite us on the tail some point in the future…”
Retvik and Psiksi both glanced at each other, not sure what to say.
“Why are you so pessimistic?” Psiksi asked.
“That’s just how it is for us!” Tenuk grunted as he walked off. “Let me know when the traffic’s clear so we can land…”