“Not everything you do has to be related to work!” Rethais had said. “Sometimes you need to go to these events for fun.”
Well, Elkay was not having fun. There were lots of Rethan Generals here and they all wanted to talk about either work or their hobbies and Elkay was interested in neither of them. The ceremony was celebrating the graduation of the next generation of new adult Rethans, all of whom were now free to either continue their careers in the Rethan Stratos or go and live their own lives. The ones graduating here were the smartest of the bunch, having graduated and started celebrating early.
“Would you like a nibble, High General?” a waiter waved a plate of sliced hams in front of Elkay.
“No thank you.”
The waiter bowed then left to serve food to others. Several Generals wandered by, wanting to talk, but Elkay shooed them all off. He was not in the mood for being civil. In fact, there was only one Rethan he wanted to talk to. He’d seen them lingering in the crowd, smiling awkwardly and congratulating every student, but not saying anything to the generals. Young, intelligent and dare Elkay say it, attractive. Not too tall either. Same height as Elkay, pretty much.
“You enjoying yourself?”
A heavy hand belonging to Rethais landed on Elkay’s shoulder, dislodging his shoulder plate. Elkay grunted as he readjusted it.
“No.”
“Why?” The Vice General seemed vaguely annoyed. “You never enjoy anything. No wonder you do not connect to the public on a regular basis.”
“Name a normal Rethavok who would enjoy this.”
Rethais pointed at the graduates. “They seem happy.”
“They have to be here.”
“Fine. Be unhappy.” Rethias tutted, lacking a response. He then wandered off, leaving Elkay to himself once more.
With a sigh, Elkay helped himself to a glass of water from a wandering waiter, then went back to silently judging everyone. He quickly noticed that the young, attractive Rethan from earlier had gone back and forth a few times. Was he trying to grab Elkay’s attention?
A third pass, and Elkay reached for the Rethan, grabbing him by the arm. The Rethan turned to him then smiled awkwardly.
“Hi.”
“Hello,” Elkay smiled awkwardly back. “You were…”
“Yeah… Sorry, was inappropriate.”
“It was not…” Elkay swallowed nervously. “I… I have been watching you all evening. I think…”
Elkay paused. He tugged at the Rethan’s arm, then pulled him to a more secluded spot. Back where they had been, he felt too exposed. Their new location wasn’t much better, but it would have to do.
“It is embarrassing how I am the leader of the Rethavok and I cannot even bring myself to say how I feel.”
“That’s probably because the Rethavok as a whole have cut away most of their emotions in exchange for wrapping ourselves up in logic. So when someone important like you, permanently trapped inside work and logic, tries to talk, you feel ashamed.”
The Rethan smiled, then adjusted his gold armour. Elkay noticed that his black and yellow natural armour underneath had tiny, gold veins in it. This Rethan was beautiful.
“That’s how you feel, isn’t it?”
Elkay nodded. “Yes, it is. But who are you and how do you…” The High General paused, then rolled his eyes. “Hello, Arkadin.”
“Am I that obvious?” the Deathlord tutted.
“Yes. You turned yourself into exactly the Rethan I would consider spending time with. What are you doing here?”
Arkadin turned away. “It’s… complicated.”
“You intervened in my life for a specific reason.”
“I was going to ask you out on a date. Before I head off for a bit. But I don’t think you’re interested. So I’m going to head off for a bit. See how things go. Don’t eat anything, just drink water.”
“What?” Elkay held on to Arkadin’s arm. “What are you on about?”
“Sometimes the other guys win…” Arkadin hissed as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.