Things had taken longer than expected, and the sudden arrival of night had forced them to slow down, and a well-hidden tree stump had forced them to stop completely. The 4×4 vehicle was fine, but Kayel was insistent that they take a break and camp for the evening. Not because he was tired, or couldn’t see (Kayel in fact had excellent night vision, although driving with the headlights on the truck affected that) but because he was concerned that he’d crash or something. And the last thing any of them wanted was to have to walk back to civilization.
However, as everyone set up camp in a small clearing, Tenuk was clearly in a bad mood. There were four nice tents available, however Tenuk was refusing to use any of them.
“Tenuk, you can’t sleep in the car.”
“And why not?” Tenuk was lying in the back seats, arms crossed, staring at the ceiling. Nyssi was standing by the door, arms crossed, staring at Tenuk.
“You can’t.”
“Why?”
“You’ll feel like shit when you get up!”
“I’ll feel like shit wherever I sleep!”
Outside, Retvik and Kayel had already set up their tents, and Retvik was covering himself in insect repellent while Kayel tended to the fire.
“Nyssi, he doesn’t want to!” Kayel shouted as he poked the fire with a stick. “Just let Tenuk sleep in the vehicle!”
“He needs to sleep in his sleeping bag!” Nyssi protested. “It’s like you’ve never been camping before!”
“I haven’t been camping before!”
“You’re in your fifties!”
“I’m technically a teenager! Plus, I’m a Spast! We’re used to a certain amount of luxury, and I am NOT sleeping on the bumpy floor!”
Nyssi gave up and slammed the door shut, before joining Kayel and Retvik by the fire. She eyed Kayel and grunted, before turning to Retvik.
“That’s a lot of insect repellent.”
“I do not want to be bitten…” Retvik frowned as he put the squirty bottle down.. “I once got bitten on the tiny piece of skin between my talons and the plating around my feet and it was horrible.”
“You utterly stink of citronella and DEET.”
Kayel shrugged. “Eh, I don’t blame him. Retvik, can I use that when you’re-”
The bottle of insect repellent bounced off Kayel’s head and into his hands. He would have been vaguely annoyed, but to Retvik’s credit, that was a damn good throw from over the fire. Kayel squirted some clear, gooey cream into his hands and began to rub it across his non-armoured skin, focusing mostly on his neck and arms.
“Okay, neither of you two get too close to the fire! That stuff has alcohol in it.” Nyssi was in a bit of a bad mood too, but mostly because she’d lost another bet to Kayel. She’d expected Tenuk to not complain about camping for at least a couple of days, but Kayel had accurately predicted that he’d start bitching as soon as they set up camp. Still, Nyssi was determined not to give Kayel the fiver she owed him until they were back in town.
Kayel glanced at the ingredients on the side of the bottle. “I think this is actually mostly just water and thickening agents, but fair enough. Do you want some, Nyssi?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
“Alrighty!” Kayel put the bottle down, then picked up his stick and started prodding the fire again. He watched as Retvik got up and made himself useful, grabbing some ready meals from the back of the truck, as well as a pot of water, which he set up to boil. The ready meals just needed to be boiled in water for ten minutes and the meals inside would be perfectly edible. Completely liquid, but edible. In the mean time, Kayel found himself a packet of marshmallows and some skewers, and was now happily burning things.
Nyssi however was now just lying down, staring at the stars above. The skies were clear, so she could see plenty. That being said, there weren’t that many stars to look at. This thought of Nyssi’s was disrupted by the appearance of a bowl of soup next to her.
“Eat up, Nyssi. You in particular need to keep your strength up!”
Nyssi glanced at the bowl. She wasn’t hungry. And the food was hot. “I’ll eat it when it cools down, thanks, Retvik.”
“No problem, Nyssi!” Retvik sat back down next to Kayel and also began to prod the fire. “Will Tenuk be joining us?”
“Probably not…” Nyssi sighed, still gazing upwards. There was plenty moving in the sky. Mostly just passing ships and satellites. Satellites in particular were very common, since they beamed internet and olanet connections across planets. Kolasi was also along one of the major flight paths between Temthan, Torr and Vohran trading routes, so the sky was rarely still. “Hey you two? Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough stars in the sky?”
Kayel glanced upwards. “Eh, I dunno, I almost feel the opposite.”
“Why?”
“I was born in the Voidlands. Skyavok territories are always really dark thanks to all the black gaseous clouds that surround them. The sky was completely black at the K-Class base I grew up at.”
Nyssi blinked and sat up. “You grew up at a military base?”
Kayel didn’t answer at first. He glanced around to make sure that the camera drones that had been following them around all day weren’t on. They’d deactivated a few hours ago, to give the team some privacy. “Well, yeah, of course I did. I have unholy abilities that can be traced back to the fucking God of Death, you think they’re just going to let someone like me go to a normal school?”
“But what about visiting parents?”
“I’m an orphan, I don’t have parents. I was raised by the K-Class.”
Nyssi glanced at Retvik, hoping that he’d be as shocked as she was. It quickly turned out though that he wasn’t.
“It is not that strange, Nyssi. The majority of Rethavok, myself included, go to military boarding schools at the age of 11, since every single one of us is a trained soldier. I have not seen my parents in a long time.”
“How long?” Nyssi asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
“Hm…” Retvik counted on his fingers. This did not inspire much confidence in Nyssi, doubly so as it took way too long for Retvik to give an answer. “About 35 years. And those were just my foster parents who raised me. Being of a traditional lineage and technically experimental bloodline, I have not actually met my own mother and father.”
Nyssi stared at Retvik.
“What?”
“You are fucking weird.”
“We have already established that I am weird, Nyssi. Really, all four of us are.”
Nyssi tutted, then turned her attention to her food. It was still a bit too hot to eat, so she went back to staring at the sky. Thankfully, Tenuk had left the safety of the vehicle, his hunger overriding his grumpiness.
“You all okay?” Tenuk asked as Kayel handed him a marshmallow on a stick.
“Yeah, we’re fine. Nyssi thinks we’re weird for not knowing our parents.”
Tenuk wasn’t too sure how to respond as he melted the marshmallow over the fire and quickly ate it. Being a Spast, his diet consisted of mostly just simple carbohydrates, sugar and caffeine. There was a bowl of food that Retvik had prepared for Tenuk, but as he glanced at it, he realized it was literally just a bowl of honey.
“I mean, not all parents are exactly… good…” Tenuk eventually spoke. “We’re, uh, completely alone right now, aren’t we?”
“Cameras turned off hours ago.”
“Ah, good…” Tenuk hesitated. “Because, well… I’ll be honest, kinda wish I didn’t know my parents. Or at least my dad.”
“Your dad is-”
“I know, I know, and he’s a bastard. To the point that, when I got formified amnesia and ran into you lot, I pretended to be dead so my dad wouldn’t find me. I was never his kid, I was only ever two things, a trophy and an heir, to be moulded into what he wanted me to be. I’m glad I got out of that.”
Nyssi sighed, then apologized. “I’m sorry you guys never got to have loving parents like I did. Even if my parents are former criminals.”
“No need to apologize!” Retvik exclaimed. “Us Rethans don’t really understand the concept of loving parents anyway. I have not missed out.”
“Yeah but those two have…” Nyssi paused, then sat up properly. They’d all heard rustling. Tenuk immediately got up and sat next to Retvik. Sure, they all had weird healing powers, but Tenuk was comparatively young and was still scared.
“Are there many nocturnal predators out here we should be worried about?” Tenuk asked.
“It was probably just a rodent or something!” Kayel chirped. “I don’t see anything anyway.”
“Yeah, we’re probably fine!” Nyssi did her best to be reassuring. “Most of the predators here are cold-blooded, they rarely hunt at night. Only things we might draw the attention of are Banikans, and Banikans don’t hunt other intelligent beings. As long as we have the fire here, we’ll be fiiiiiiine.”
Tenuk settled down somewhat. “Oh. Okay. I’m still sleeping in the truck though.”
“You should have dinner first though!” Nyssi recommended. “Shouldn’t go to bed on an empty stomach.”
The little Spast glanced at the bowl of honey, then started sipping at it. Kayel went back to burning things, Retvik sorted himself out some more food, since he was still hungry, and Nyssi returned to her sky watching.
After a while and probably a bit too much quiet, Retvik yawned, spoiling the mood.
“Well, I am going to get some rest,” Retvik proclaimed, a little too loudly. “I suggest you all do the same.”