“Kayel, are you busy?”
Kayel glanced up, surprised to see Ret.
“I’m still laying naked in this pool, the same pool I was lying naked in an hour ago. I’m not busy.”
Ret grunted, then sat down, not in the water, but close by.
“What’s wrong?” Kayel asked.
“I wanted to apologise.”
“What for?”
Another grunt. “I should not have threatened violence at you. You made a silly statement and I threatened to hurt you in retaliation. I should not have done that and I apologise, I need to work on my emotions.”
Kayel inspected Ret a little. “You’re apologising for a lot.”
“I should not have threatened you.”
“Yeah, maybe, but, in all honesty? What I said was pretty bloody unhinged. And embarrassing. You were embarrassed and lashed out because of it. While I accept your apology and think you might need to cut down on the caffeine and maybe reign in your behaviour a tad, I totally get why you got angry. That sentence was embarrassing to a Rethan like you and I’m sorry I embarrassed you.”
“Well… I am sorry too…” Retvik sighed.
Kayel shrugged. “It’s fine, mate. Honestly, you’re a good guy. You realised you were wrong and came back to apologise. Fucking no one does that these days. Come, come sit with me and chill.”
Ret glanced around briefly, then did as he was told, joining Kayel in the water.
“Huh. This is nice.”
“It is.”
“Thank you, Kayel.”
“No worries, Ret.”
…
Souldrainer: Dear, are you online?
Brightguard is now online.
Brightguard: ah
Brightguard: me but evil and old
Brightguard: hello!
Brightguard: how can i send you pictures
Souldrainer: I have explained this before, you need to put them in an RTF file.
Brightguard: oh
Brightguard: i cannot do that right now
Brightguard: but you need me
Souldrainer: I have a question to ask of you.
Brightguard: a question
Brightguard: i like questions
Souldrainer: Well I have a very basic question for you.
Souldrainer: I want to get a gift for someone and I would like some advice.
Brightguard: gifts are nice
Brightguard: i want to get a big gift for retvik
Brightguard: but they are a baby and do not understand gifts yet
Souldrainer: I am glad you said that second thing.
Souldrainer: Anyway, I wish to get a gift for a Skyavok. They have been kind and helpful, but I do not know what would be nice for them.
Brightguard: who?
Souldrainer: You met him. His name is Kayel.
Brightguard: oh!!!
Brightguard: get them a shiny rock!!!
Souldrainer: A… a shiny rock?
Brightguard: old mama elkay gave me a shiny rock
Brightguard: it is white with a crack on it
Brightguard: they told me a cool fact about it but…
Brightguard: i do not remember the fact
Brightguard: but the idea is that you gift a shiny rock alongside some fact
Brightguard: because skyans like shadows and knowledge
Brightguard: and knowledge is hard to gift
Brightguard: but easier than a shadow
Souldrainer: Huh. Interesting.
Souldrainer: Thank you for the information, my dear.
Souldrainer: Are you doing alright?
Brightguard: we are happy!!!
Brightguard: very happy!!!!!
Brightguard: oh sorry have to go
Brightguard: metal meanie
Brightguard is now offline.
…
“I forget how huge this shop is…” Galyn muttered as he and Itaviir walked down an aisle labelled “Party Supplies”. They were in the middle of buying things for their upcoming wedding, while Vikalos was off looking for… something else. He hadn’t specified, but the two old Beh’ens didn’t mind. They didn’t really spend that much time just… wandering around together.
“It really is huge.”
“Stupidly huge.”
“Is there something on your mind?” Itaviir asked.
Galyn frowned. “Somewhat. It feels weird that, in less than an ev, we will be getting married. Properly married. Like a Beh’enu and a Beh’ena. Except we are both Beh’enu and have a fire demon as part of our relationship.”
“It does feel weird, now you put it like that…” Itaviir muttered. “But in all honesty, things have just been… so weird for year-strings now.”
“True. We went from a rather normal sect to being… well… famous, almost. And… in love. Like, truly in love!” Galyn perked up. “It did take two or three very unusual Decaylings to do so though. It is insane how Arkay, Retvik and Litvir changed everything, in such a dramatic way.”
“They were changes for the better though.”
“Definitely. We are actually… we are free to actually love each other…” Galyn trailed off, then inspected Itaviir somewhat. “Speaking of which… I have not stopped and told you that you are… um… uh… Itaviir, you are very attractive.”
Itaviir was caught off guard by that comment, but he swiftly started smiling. “Hah, you can be so silly. I appreciate the comment, Galyn. You are attractive as well.”
“I sometimes feel ugly.”
“I get that. We both do. We were always seen as freaks by the rest of our kind, and how others see us makes us feel weird. We are not ugly though…” Itaviir smirked. “I mean, the Beh’enas of the Golden Warmth think the same way.”
“That is very, very true…” Galyn smiled as well, then changed the subject. “So… are we going to get temporary plates or anything?”
“Paper everything.”
“Paper… everything?”
Itaviir nodded. “Paper plates, paper cups, paper straws, paper napkins. Paper decorations. All in white.”
“Why?”
“Because I do not want to do any cleaning up. Instead of… well, to be fair, we incinerate most things anyway, but I think we should get all the paper rubbish, throw it into a pile and have Vikalos ignite it into a massive bonfire. Then the three of us kiss in front of the flames.”
Galyn blinked, but he swiftly started smiling as well. “I actually really like that idea.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Itaviir smiled back, then held out his hand. “So, shall we go and pick stuff out? Together? While holding hands?”
Galyn took Itaviir’s hand. “I would love to… I… I love you, Itaviir.”
“I love you too, Galyn.”