“Wow… that’s a huge offer…”
Psiksi fidgeted awkwardly, not at all sure how to feel. Standing on the opposite side of the desk was Veeksiar, the grand Rethan Archivist, keeper of the Great Rethan Libraries. Standing next to him was Veeksiar, the Great Skyan Librarian. They were both aware they shared the same name and occupation, but everyone put it down to coincidence.
“The concern is whether it is enough compensation.”
“… Enough?”
“Yes.”
Psiksi glanced at all the paperwork. It was mostly just lists. Everything that was related to the Dessaron. Buildings and possessions, but also things left in wills. It turned out that, while Retvik and Elksia had left their belongings to their families, Tenuk somehow didn’t have a will. And with all of Tenuk’s family being dead or exiled, Psiksi was his next of kin.
“You guys want… everything?”
Veeksiar, the Skyan one, shifted his weight. “Everything would be best, but if there are personal possessions you wish to keep, then we can work things out.”
“I can keep… what I want?”
The Rethan Veeksiar grunted, crossing his arms. “Your own belongings of course belong to you. But there is a huge amount to go through. We have four properties and a warehouse that is full of weapons, it all needs to be categorized, archived and preserved. After all, the Dessaron were the biggest heroes of our collective generations, and, despite your relatively brief time with them, you proved yourself.”
“And you’re the only one left…” Skyan Veeksiar added.
“I pick what I want to keep though, right? Like, can I have Tenuk’s ship?”
“If you wish.”
“Is there, well, a limit?”
Rethan Veeksiar frowned, picking up a large folder. “Somewhat. It seems that neither Retvik nor Tenuk involved the Rethan government nor the local Ksithan government that you had explosives in your warehouse. They were properly stored and disarmed. And labelled. But we should have known. The same goes for the parts of the Kronospast-built super-weapon that was unfinished.”
“Oh, you guys can have all that. I just want Tenuk’s ship and, well, my stuff and… Arkay’s rifle… and…” Psiksi paused, then sighed. “Do you guys even… know what happened?”
The Skyan Veeksiar shook his head. The Rethan Veeksiar nodded his head, but not with a particularly certain tone.
“We are aware that the gods took… influential beings, to fight against some sort of extra-universal menace…”
“Yeah. We fought the golden Voidborn armies!” Psiksi snapped. “The Whenvern was snapping us back to life so we could fight more damn monsters!”
Both Veeksiars stared at Psiki.
“You were… there?”
“I saw everything!” Psiksi nearly snarled. “You have no idea what we had to do! You don’t know…”
The Skyan Veeksiar leaned forward. “Have you… spoken to anyone?”
“No. I’ve been stuck living with Retvik’s brother…”
“Do you need to speak to someone?”
Psiksi sighed. “Maybe… But… well… I don’t want to talk to you. And there’s a lot of stuff here I need to go through first. I mean, really, this will make me financially secure for, well, forever.”
Both Veeksiars nodded.
“Indeed. Do you need time to think about what you want to keep and what you want to… donate?”
“Yeah, probably…” Psiksi muttered as he went back to flicking through paperwork. “I had no idea they owned… so much stuff…”