“Hey guys?” Nyssi asked as she glanced up from her homework, to look at the ship that had just landed back in its normal spot at Savepoint. Lately, the Decaylings had been training as a group of eight, but since Itaviir and Galyn had returned the previous day, they’d gone back to working in two teams, with the Voidborn and the Time Drake being educated by Saahro and Phovos, and the four half-Synaisthyns learning with Elkay, the 100% Synaisthyn.
“Yeah?” Kayel asked back.
“Remember when Ret was asked out on a date with Kuta, but it turned out to be a ploy to get Ret in front of his annoying-ass sibling High General and cute little Relkir so he could be repatriated and they could end those stupid bloodline things?”
“Yes?” Ret awkwardly replied.
“Remember how Tenny got super pissed off that he was gone for way longer than the one afternoon planned and came back home in a different set of armour?”
“Yes…” Tanos tutted.
“You think Arkay will do the same thing as that’s what’s about to happen now kinda?”
A grunt interrupted the team.
“Excuse me, Nyssi, are you… borrowing time powers?” Elkay asked as he stood over his students.
“No? I’m just picking up… I think they’re your half-brother’s thoughts, about how badass he looks in his new armour!” Nyssi explained herself. “We can’t do time stuff, we already told everyone that.”
“We can borrow each other’s powers though!” Kayel exclaimed, before suddenly covering his mouth. “Oops… sorry, Nyssi. Wasn’t supposed to… uh… sorry…”
Elkay eyed both Kayel and Nyssi, then sighed. “You do not need to hide your powers from me, you know. I will not tell anyone if you do not want me to.”
Nyssi settled down. “Yeah. You’re fine. We’re just… We know we’re totally over-powered and don’t want everyone else knowing. Especially not the two Phovoses, because they’d get pissed.”
“You say that as if Kyr Elkay, someone who is as powerful as Arkay is, is not standing right here before us!” Ret tutted. “But yes, Nyssi is right. This is a bit like when I returned home wearing different armour than I left in. And, admittedly, Kyr Retvik’s armour is badass.”
Elkay nodded, then paused. “Uh, Ret, they have not exited the ship yet, how do you know?”
“Kayel has heat vision. We can all borrow it. And Kyr Retvik is a lighthouse on a beach.”
Before Ret could give away more secrets and annoy Nyssi further, there was a lot of sudden commotion as the pilot and passengers stepped out of Souldrainer’s Plight and made their way over to the main area. All three beings were immediately hugged by their partners, but the hug Galyn and Itaviir gave Vikalos was more brief and gentle, because he was carrying bags of shopping. Arkay however literally threw himself at Retvik and Litvir, and, since they had prepared for Arkay’s hug, they had already dropped their shopping.
“YOU BOTH LOOK SO AWESOME!” Arkay giggled with excitement as he held his partners tightly. However, that thought did make Arkay pause, as he realized that he had partners, was holding them and thought they both looked hot as fuck. But Arkay put that thought to one side and hugged Retvik and Litvir again. “Retvik, the little flames under your pauldrons and your flaming collar are sick, and Litvir, babe, why have I never seen you in bright silver before? It suits you! Also, you were gone ages. Galyn and I managed to get Kahlos feeling better and get back here way before you guys.”
“Oh, you fixed him up?” Retvik smiled.
“Uh, mostly. Galyn gave him some specially formulated pain killers and I gave him seven jars of my saliva. It’s not as good as Life Goddess blood, but since the wound was, uh, kinda… cursed by a Life Goddess, it needs a Life Goddess to fix it. But worst case scenario we said Kahlos and his buddies can come visit us and Phovos can deal with him.”
Vikalos smiled. “Wonderful. Kahlos is a good kid. Did Thyel behave?”
Itaviir shrugged, but Galyn’s shoulders dropped. However, Itaviir quickly noticed this.
“I have told you five times now, you are allowed to find other Beh’ens attractive, we ALL occasionally have lewd thoughts we can’t control. The second Zephyr led you to the medical bay, Thyel asked me if I would sleep with him. It is FINE.”
“Also, I slept with Thyel…” Litvir muttered. “Was rather pleasant, and Retvik and Arkay did not mind. Thyel is an attractive Beh’en himself.”
“Either way!” Vikalos suddenly stole the reigns of the conversation. “Retvik and Litvir finally got some armour befitting of being the leaders of a sect. Arkay, do you want me to take you at some point?”
“Nah, I’m good, I make my own armour with my stupid Life Goddess mimicry. But at some point, we need to take the Thantir Eight, mostly so Tenuk can get some armour that fits with his shapeshifting and Elkay can get some armour that can tolerate his Synaisthyn bullshittery. And when the kiddos all graduate, we’ll take them too.”
“Wonderful. But we do owe the three of you to a trip to the Nice Place, so at some point we will do that too…” Vikalos trailed off, then lifted up the bags of shopping. Amazingly, none of them were filled with scarves. But one of them was stuffed with clothing. “Either way, we got a few bits of pieces. Someone requested flame-retardant hoodies, I grabbed rubberized fabric for our shapeshifters to make clothes out of and I got some waterproof t-shirts and flat pieces of cloth for those with colder or wetter powers.”
“We also got take-out!” Litvir clapped his hands together with joy. “Take-out battered and deep-fried pieces of poultry and other meats that Retvik has kept at a perfect temperature for the entire long flight, so we do not need to worry about any of it being cold or weird.”
“Admittedly, I did melt the ice cream on the waffles though.”
Arkay laughed, then hugged his partners again. “It’s fine! We have TWO icy folks who can fix that for us later!”
“Indeed. Anyway!” Vikalos bellowed. “Folks, come along and have something to eat! I have brought enough to feed everyone and then some!”