“BOO!”
Retvik nearly jumped out of bed. The whole house had been completely silent, what with Kayel and Nyssi staying at their own homes and Tenuk spending the night at Talok’s place, so Kuta suddenly leaping out from the shadow in the corner and throwing themselves into Retvik’s bed did catch him unaware.
“Kuta! You scared me!”
“Sorry, dear!” Kuta smirked as they snuggled up next to Retvik. “But I wanted to surprise you on this… uh… what is the name of this Temthan holiday… uh… All Spirits’ Eve? Whatever. I wanted to say hi, tell you I love you and invite you to my place for dinner. In person.”
Retvik rubbed his eyes. He was slightly annoyed at first, but that annoyance didn’t last long. After all, Kuta was being very cute, and they just wanted to spend time with him.
“Your place?”
“Yes, my place. We can have dinner by candlelight.”
Retvik smiled a little. “Why would we need candles when I can do this?”
“Do what?”
Retvik snapped his fingers three times, summoning some little orbs of light. One of them fizzled out, but the other two shimmered perfectly fine.
“Oooh!” Kuta beamed. “I forget you have the Family of Dawn trait! A very nice ability. Most Rethans cannot use our elemental affinity at all, and here you are, showing off!”
“Relkir and I used to annoy Rethais by keeping them awake at night with these little orbs. We do not know why, but Rethais does not have the trait.”
Kuta shrugged. “Oh well. All three of you have that menacing Rethianos Aura though.”
“Yes… wait, what?”
“The Rethianos Aura and the Rethianos Will are the main traits of your bloodline. Sure, there is the whole Rethan Perfection thing, but you are also supposed to be menacing and indomitable. A true leader. The other Bloodlines are more about physical traits and being a terrifying physical presence.”
Retvik blinked, then rubbed his eyes again. As he lost concentration, the little motes faded away. “Wait… is THAT why other Rethans avoid me?”
“Probably.”
“I… I thought it was because I was overly friendly and talked too much!”
“Well, it might be both of those things. Relkir has similar problems, and they always put it down to their shortness. Admittedly, I have an aura of my own, but mine is more obvious because my telepathy enhances it, and it camouflages the auras of others. Back when I was dating Arkay, I learned that us Rethavok have a very, very light telepathic link, barely recognizable and definitely not capable of being used for communications, but we do use it to identify if other Rethans are a threat or not.”
“That… that explains so much…” Retvik frowned. “I… I unintentionally make other Rethans scared of me… Is this why we cannot properly use artificial communication telepathy without intense training?”
Kuta nodded. “It is. But, weirdly, it is also why Skyavok can use artificial telepathy without any training. I suppose it is because we have a distant common ancestor with the Vohra… Anyway, do you want to come to my place for dinner?”
Retvik smiled, then climbed out of bed. “Sure. Let me just put some armour on.”
Kuta watched as Retvik made his way over to his wardrobe. After a moment of thought, Kuta smirked again. “You could come over in your pyjamas. Or… we could have naked dinner by candlelight…”
“You know what?” Retvik made his way back to the bed and Kuta. “I like that.”
With a grin, Kuta leaped up, grabbed Retvik by the hand, paused to pick up Retvik’s communicator then pulled Retvik through the shadow in the corner. Unfortunately, Kuta did somewhat miscalculate, and they fell flat on their face as they passed out. There was more light in Kuta’s apartment, and Retvik realized that Kuta was only wearing a loin cloth and stomach wrap, same as Retvik was.
“Uh…” Retvik stuttered as he picked Kuta up off the floor. “Kuta, dear?”
Kuta snapped back to attention. “Huh? Oh. Yes. Hello.”
“You passed out.”
“I did, yes.”
“Are you alright?”
Kuta nodded, straightening themselves out. Satisfied that Kuta was well, Retvik glanced around Kuta’s apartment. The lights were off, but little LED candles had been scattered all over the place, and, at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, plates and glasses had been laid out, alongside two cold bottles of mead. A miniature oven was humming away in the corner.
“So, uh, is mead fine? Or do you want some water or cola as well?” Kuta asked as they made their way into the kitchen. “And please excuse the fake lights. I do not trust live flames when I am not present to keep an eye on them.”
Retvik shrugged and sat down at the breakfast bar. “I would like a cola. I assume it is diet?”
“Always.” Kuta pranced by the fridge and grabbed drinks for both of them. “Not in the mood for alcohol?”
“Hah… I ended up drinking a lot yesterday. My fellow house fighters absolutely adored Relkir and Gath and it did somewhat turn into a drinking and arm wrestling party.”
Kuta giggled. They poured the cola into glasses, then took their own glass into the kitchen so they could drink as they cooked. They grabbed a large saucepan and filled it with a mixture of milk and water then put it on the stove to boil. While they waited, Kuta rummaged through the cupboard for a pack of instant potato flakes, as well as various spices. Spiced mashed potatoes were a very popular dish among Rethans, and pretty much everyone kept several packets of dried instant mash in the cupboard for easy access.
The small oven dinged, and Kuta rushed over to check its contents. Retvik was surprised by the scent that wafted over, it smelled sweet and ever so slightly spicy. Fetching a set of tongs, Kuta pulled out two small racks of ribs and placed them in a bowl, before taking a foil tray out of the mini oven and pouring its contents into a separate sauce pan, to which Kuta added a spoonful of some sort of black sauce from a jar, some spices, a bit of water and some starch. They stirred both saucepans, took the smaller one off the heat, then added the instant potato flakes and the spices, as well as some salt and pepper, to the milk and water mixture.
As soon as the mash had thickened, Kuta turned off the heat, then dished everything up, placing two large plates in front of both Retvik and themselves.
“Tada! Slow-cooked ribs and mash!”
Retvik smiled, mostly because he was happy that Kuta was so happy. “Thank you dear, this is all very considerate of you.”
Kuta took a large glug of their cola, then opened up the bottle of mead and took a glug of that too. “It is nothing! I just wanted to cook dinner for my favourite Rethan! Because I love you dearly and feel like I do not say that enough. Also…” Kuta paused, then took another sip of their mead. “Can I be… really… honest about something?”
“Oh… Well, sure…”
Kuta took a deep breath. “It is… only slightly concerning. I just feel I ought to keep you informed. A minor health scare, but one I am getting fixed soon.”
“What is wrong?”
“Nothing… serious. When I went to have my IUD replaced, the medics spotted a lump on one of my ovaries. In the next few days, I will be going in to have the lump removed. Should be fine, but I felt I ought to let you know.”
Retvik relaxed somewhat. “Oh. That is fine. I thought it was something genuinely serious.”
“Well, according to the medics, it is not that serious. But I want to be honest with you and I did not want you to try and call me while I was in the middle of surgery or something.”
Retvik smiled. “I appreciate you telling me, Kuta. I am sure it will all go smoothly.”
Kuta smiled back. “Thank you for being understanding. You really are the best Rethan ever.”
His smile turning into a silly grin, Retvik grabbed his drink and raised it, chinking it to Kuta’s glass. “And you are the second best Rethan ever.”
“Hah! I shall accept that!” Kuta suddenly laughed. “Cheers, Retvik.”
“Love you, Kuta.”
“Heh. Love you too…”