The sofa was soft. Very soft. Fabric covered and fluffy. The cushions were filled with feathers and the seats were backed up by a weird foam. Either way, Litvir was feeling very, very comfortable right now. Sure, Litvir had several beds, but none of them were as comfortable as the sofa Litvir was currently lying on. In fact, the sofa was so soft that Litvir had fallen asleep on it.
Litvir also had no idea how long they had been sleeping for. For a moment, they couldn’t even remember where they were. Not at the Junior Stratos barracks. Not at Aster’s place. They were in the home of their parental guardians. They were staying there for the weekend. And as a treat, not as a punishment. At some point though, Litvir must have fallen asleep. They were trying to remember what happened. Were they watching TV? Litvir could remember that, but they didn’t recall what exactly they were watching. Some sort of documentary on wildlife on an abandon world. Something about water creatures? The first show they watched, Relkir seemed to get annoyed at it, and they’d switched to the animal documentary.
Speaking of Relkir, Litvir realized that they were wandering around, tidying up the place. The table had several drinks and several bowls of snacks that had been left out.
Litvir did want to say good morning to Relkir, but that wasn’t what came out of Litvir’s mouth. Instead, they let out a massive yawn, that Relkir immediately heard.
“Did you sleep well, little one?”
Litvir rubbed their eyes, yawned again, then sat up straight.
“Sorry.”
“Why are you saying sorry?”
“Um…” Litvir glanced at the pillow they had been using. It was covered in drool. That was often why Elkay didn’t let Litvir sleep at the great library very often. And Aster often put a cover on one of the cushions to prevent drooling. “I am sorry for getting lots of dribble on your cushion.”
Relkir seemed completely unbothered. “You are a kid, kids dribble occasionally. I believe it is because kids and teens, their tongues grow faster than the rest of the mouth, so you drool more. It is not a problem though.”
“But it makes a stain.”
Relkir was still unbothered. They wandered over and sat down on the free sofa. Apparently it was common for larger Rethans to have two sofas. “I can just wash the cushions. It is fine. So, how did you sleep?”
Litvir finally sat up straight. “Good, I think. It is nice, not having an alarm to wake me up. Every day, clock goes beep beep and I have to get up because it is annoying and I need to turn it off. But sleep was nice.”
“Did you have any nice dreams?” Relkir asked as they stretched a bit.
“I… I do not remember. I do not really… understand dreams.”
Relkir shrugged. “Admittedly, most beings do not understand dreams. Us Rethans dream rather basically, we somewhat visit events from our pasts. But apparently, Spasts have insanely chaotic dreams, almost the same as watching a thrilling action movie.”
“Oh. I… I do not see much. Just dark stuff. But sometimes I dream about when I protected Nanik from the angry Whenvern. Everyone said I did very good, but it hurt me a lot. My arm hurt for a few days afterwards.”
“Was this when the Whenvern was ill?”
Litvir nodded, but suddenly paused. “How do you know about that? Kyr Dalosisaar said to not tell anyone.”
“Really?” Relkir tilted their head to one side in confusion. “Kyr Elkay told me about what happened, and I am pretty sure the deity tracking groups also all knew.”
Litvir hesitated. “Um… Dalosisaar said that how we made the Whenvern calm down was embarrassing, but I did not understand it. The Whenvern moved around a lot. Almost broke some chains. But Dalosisaar somewhat just laid on top of the Whenvern and the Whenvern calmed down a little.”
“Hm. I can see why Dalosisaar might have been embarrassed.”
“How comes?” Litvir asked. “He was just laying I do not know why it is bad.”
Relkir shrugged. “It is not bad. Do you remember what I told you about weddings, and how Torr weddings have to be a male and a female?”
Litvir thought got a moment, then nodded.
“Well, Thraki are similar. Romantic relationships are normally between a male Thraki and a female Thraki. I assume Dalosisaar was pretending to be a female to placate the Whenvern. Dalosisaar is male and probably does not like that he had to pretend to be female.”
“Oh…” Litvir didn’t completely understand, but they somewhat understood. “What are your dreams like?”
Relkir sighed. “I… have a few… nightmares that repeat. Namely the day where I was… supposed to have been killed, and Retvik saved me.”
“Who is Retvik?” Litvir asked, then suddenly blinked and worked it out. “Your big sibling. Brother, because they always said “he” not “they”. The kind fighty Rethan. The hero who disappeared. Taken by the snake.”
Relkir’s eyes widened. “What do you mean by the snake? What snake?”
“The big pink and purple snake that Kyr Maresia says prayers to. I only saw it once when I was in an egg. But Kyr Elkay knows about it.”
“Are you talking about Sini, the old Allbirther? Who gave her control of life to the Lady of Light?”
Litvir nodded. “Yes. Big snake. With, uh, the round things that Maresia and Syksis have.”
Relkir continued to stare at Litvir. “And you say that the big snake took my sibling?”
“Yes. With the other three. I do not know why or where or anything though. Was before. When I was an egg.”
Relkir’s gaze fell downwards. They stared at the floor for a bit, not saying anything. Litvir immediately thought they had done something wrong and curled up into a ball, not daring to make eye contact.
“I am sorry.”
“Do not apologize, Litvir. It is not your fault.”
“I scare you. I say things I should not say.”
Relkir sighed, then sat on the sofa next to Litvir. After a few seconds, they sighed and hugged Litvir tightly. Litvir didn’t know why Relkir was hugging them, but they decided to hug Relkir back.
“Are you alright, Kyr Relkir?”
“I am… alright, yes…” Relkir smiled just a little as they let go and patted Litvir on the shoulder. “You are a good kid.”
Litvir smiled, then yawned. “I think I need more sleep. Is nice.”
“No worries, little one!” Relkir smiled properly this time. “Do you want a blanket?”
“Um. Yes, please.”
“Alright. You get yourself comfy, and I will go get one, then I will tuck you in.”
Litvir laid back down. “Thank you.”
“Thank you too, Litvir…”