“Kinda thought we’d have more than 34 Rethans here…” Psikay muttered as he watched Kuta dismiss their troops. The perky red and gold Skyavok had already sorted out the KD-Sub-Class and given everyone their jobs and schedules, and now he was just wandering around, watching the Rethans get to work. They immediately split into three groups of eleven, working on a rotating shift. The first group went to work patrolling the area, while the second group wandered around inspecting the place and getting used to their new surroundings and the last group flat out just went to bed, clearly resting up before their night shift later on.
“This is temporary!” Kuta tutted as they approached Psikay. “The 11th Legion is not a defensive Legion, we are an intelligence division, and the other half of my Legion has chosen to rejoin the 10th Legion on a temporary basis as they do not wish to be basic guards.”
“Huh. Thought you guys loved protecting things!” Psikay brightened his tone. Being a former Phantasma, Psikay never really got to meet other species in a friendly way, and he’d been chatting with his two other new non-Skyavok co-workers all day. Now he had a chance to chat with the odd, fanged Rethan and maybe annoy them a little.
“Standard-caste Rethans, sure. Higher-caste and queen-caste Rethans, our desires are more complex…” Kuta trailed off, then rubbed their neck. They were sweating. of course they were, it was about 40 degrees in the sun. Psikay was sweating heavily, but he also refused to take off his head scarf. The two of them decided to head to their temporary office, which recently had a water cooler installed.
“So!” Psikay beamed as they walked. “What’s a queen-caste Rethan? I’m well aware there’s an obvious line between some Rethans, you can see it on your plating. I’ve not heard the term queen-caste before though. Are you queen-caste?”
“Hmph. The line between upper- and queen-caste is poorly defined and very blurry. But, the same way the gap between standard- and upper-caste is more intelligence and more armour, the same can be said for queen-caste. But it also involves a lot more… selfishness.”
“Yeah, but are you queen-caste?” Psikay asked.
Kuta glanced back at their tail, then glanced at their shoulders. “I do not know. I do not think so. The only proven queen-caste Rethans are the Ethranioi. You though, you are quite interesting yourself, Psikay. Skyavok do not seem to get metallic plating, but your natural trims are gold.”
Psikay unlocked the door to their office, and immediately got himself a drink, which he gulped down before pouring two more, one for him and one for Kuta. In hindsight, maybe he should have gotten a larger plastic cup for Kuta, but one of the first things that Psikay had noticed about the Rethan General was that they were weirdly willing to talk. Most Rethans only really spoke if they had to.
“It’s literally nothing but luck!” Psikay continued to smile as he downed his new drink. Kuta sipped their drink.
“Just luck?”
“Yeah. You Rethans get your colours from your parents. For us Skyans, it’s completely and utterly random what colour we come out. My mum was green. Don’t know my dad, but mum said he was orange-plated. I assume both your parents used to be white for you to have such bright, untarnished and sharp plating.”
Kuta fell silent, seemingly lost in thought.
“You… don’t know your parents?”
Kuta shook their head. “I do not know my parents. I only have vague memories of the Rethan that laid me, and they… were not a nice person.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Kuta frowned, then shrugged. “I do not know why you are apologizing. They are quite, quite dead. I do find it odd that pretty much every single Phantasma I have met does not know one or both of their parents.”
Psikay paused. “Uh… How many Phantasma Skyans have you met?”
“Hm. Four.”
“That’s not a very large sample size.”
“Still more than most vok have met.”
Psikay paused again. “So… who HAVE you met?”
“Excluding you, I have met Kayel Theanon of Xeno Dessaron One, Teekay Askotin, the body guard of the All-Ksa, and one other Skyan who politely asked me to never mention their name to other people, so I shall not say who they are.”
Psikay shrugged, choosing to not push further. “I haven’t seen Elkay in years. As far as I know, he had a bad mission, handed in his notice and left our base the next day. Then, seven years later, the bastard turns up doing Ξ-Class work with an L-Class name. Good kid.”
Kuta nodded in agreement, then finished off their drink and sat down at their temporary desk. “Indeed.”
“So, changing the subject, what do you think about our new job? I suppose for you it’s not that bad?” Psikay asked. “Guard jobs are pretty natural to Rethans. And the KD-Sub-Class is mostly all K-Class anyway, most of us are soldiers so we’re used to this. Dunno what the Ksithans are going to be like.”
“Every single soldier of the 11th Legion is an upper-caste Rethan…” Kuta grunted. “We will not complain, but we do not get the same joy from guard duty compared to other Rethans. Admittedly, my biggest concern was not having Captain Taliv with me, but Taliv’s kid recently went into juvenile training and we made arrangements for Taliv’s partner to come here as well.“
“Is Taliv that blue and yellow-plated guy?”
“Mhm. First person I promoted to captain. Taliv is as dedicated as they come. None of us want to be here though, not on a sweltering abandon-world. What about you, Psikay?”
Psikay shrugged some more, perching on Kuta’s desk. “The entirety of the KD-Sub-Class is single, loyal to me and curious about meeting the Silent Blade in person. Most of us are just slightly miffed that we get to meet our matron deity and the bastard’s comatose. Personally, I want to know more about the guy who somehow convinced the God of Death to sleep with them.”
Kuta narrowed their eyes.
“What? I’m curious!” Psikay exclaimed. “Everyone used to call him Arkadin, because we thought that Arkay was a name us Skyavok made up for him, but it turns out that he PREFERS being called Arkay, he suddenly starts being active around mortals after decades of nothing but brief appearances and the odd miracle and, on top of that, he started dating you, a Rethan of all things. Sure, he dumped you, but still… Also why did he dump you?“
Kuta frowned, then sighed, then grunted. “Arkay and I did not wish to part ways. Unfortunately, the former matron deity of the Rethavok is a cruel, manipulative being.”
Psikay hesitated, then glanced out of the main window of the office. From there, he could see the dormant deity, lying, still and silent, surrounded by strange, purple-leafed trees.
“Alright, I won’t pry tooooooo much. But you gotta tell me, was the Silent Blade… always that big?”
“No. I have no idea why Arkay is currently so large. Or why he has been chained to the planet. Or why he is unconscious. You know as much as I know.”
“How tall is he normally?”
“Skyavok-sized. Sometimes Rethavok-sized. Sometimes in between. This whole mess is… well, messy.”
“Well…” Psikay tutted. “You’re definitely right about that, mate. And the Allbirther hasn’t been very clear with us outside of what we have to do. Really hoping our Silent Blade wakes up sooner rather than later though, because it’s fucking hot here and the Allbirther ain’t installing aircon until next week. Also I wanna ask Arkay what his favourite chocolate bar, pizza topping and one-handed weapon are.”
Kuta snorted, amused by Psikay’s attitude. “I am certain Arkay will happily answer your questions when he wakes up.”
“You think?”
“I am certain. Despite what we all say about him, Arkay is a gentle soul, and he does genuinely like mortals.”
“Heh…” Psikay smirked. “Honestly, once the aircon is installed, this won’t be too bad.”
Kuta nodded as they got up to get themselves another drink. “Indeed. And, personally, I am at least somewhat closer to where my poten-partner lives.”
Psikay’s smirk immediately faded. “You… you have a new boyfriend already?”
“Arkay specifically told me to not wait around and to move on. So I did. Also, no, he is my poten-partner, not a boyfriend.”
“What do you mean by ‘he’?” Psikay blinked. “You’re… not fucking a Skyan or something? I mean… I won’t judge if you are…”
“I am not dating a Skyavok. Also, I really must remember to shut my stupid mouth among your kind. You really can be annoying data goblins at times.”
“Alright, I’ll shut up and give you some space if you tell me who your new girlfriend is.”
“Poten-partner.”
“I’ll shut up if you tell me who your new poten-partner is.”
Kuta grunted, then sighed. “I am now dating Retvik Rethianos.”
Psikay blinked, then burst out laughing. “You’re fucking dating the Lightbearer!?! Dude, you got an upgrade! Dude, that’s awesome. How the fuck are you managing that if he lives on Portalia? Don’t tell me you’re strong enough to shadowjump between planets!”
“I am.”
Psikay blinked some more. “Uh… Can you teach me?”
“Not really, not without knocking myself out. But Arkay might be willing to teach you when he wakes up.”
That silly smirk returned to Psikay’s face. “Oh. Awesome. Well, let’s hope Arkay wakes up soon. I want to get to know him better.”