“Hey, Arkay, you busy?”
Arkay rubbed his eyes. He’d been so focused on checking the time strings of everyone else that he’d not been checking his own and hadn’t quite realised Psiksi was there.
“Uh… a little…”
“Working hard again? You know Thassalin and Elksia take turns, right?”
Psiksi climbed into the guard tower and plonked himself down next to Arkay. Arkay rubbed his eyes some more then checked in a nearby mirror. His eyes were still glowing blue. With a sigh, he turned to Psiksi and properly greeted him.
“Hi, what you doing here?”
“Checking on you!” Psiksi beamed. “You’ve been up here since Elksia laid and you determined she was alright. I just went and spoke to her to make sure she was alright as well, and she asked that I come and check on you and make sure you’re not overworking yourself. Elksia was right, you absolutely are.”
Arkay grunted. “Elksia used to do this nearly all the time.”
“Nah, she has time powers. Not great for future stuff, but she knew she could take breaks on the regular because she could see far enough ahead to see nothing was coming. Apparently Elkay would occasionally cover for her, and now we have you and Thassalin too! Really, we’re covered, and also it’s been quiet anyway.”
“I guess…” Arkay frowned. “I’m just being my overprotective self. I’ve always been stupidly overprotective. To the point that Sini altered new-universe Rethavok to be more like me.”
Psiksi thought for a moment, then shrugged. “My-universe Rethavok were pretty protective too… Actually I kinda take that back. Elkay made the Rethavok into more of a force for good. I think that Photeianos guy and the folks before him were more about strength and power, they just showed that by being the big strong guy who protects smaller races while also keeping us Skyavok down…” Psiksi decided to change the subject. “So, why you overworking yourself? You just got back from a stupid mission and barely took a break.”
“I have to make sure Elksia’s alright. Tenuk too. Probably you as well. Retvik does admittedly look after himself. My second set of Dessaron, because I didn’t look after my first set.”
Psiksi blinked. “Your… second set?”
Arkay nodded. “Yep. When I was mortal… Alright, originally, we were the Exaron, but Oxys and Argyros both died early. Oxys was a Tharen-type, he was old when we went back in time and ancient by the time we came back, he died literally a few days after he was reunited with his tribe. Argyros died suddenly of a heart attack not long after we got back. Was nothing we could do. Barely had a chance to mourn him since Athren-types always buried their dead immediately and the rest of us were busy being examined and tested and… stuff…”
The old Thantophor trailed off and sniffed, clearly rather upset.
“I dug up memories, didn’t I?”
“To be honest, I’ve been digging up a lot of memories myself lately. Litvir suggested it might be a good way to remind myself who I am after our last mission where I nearly forgot who I was. But… well… I KNOW that the other three members of the original Dessaron are still alive. I’ve spoken to Elksos and Tahnaiious. Tahnaiious leads the Ekthris now and Elksos is a Justarian Lord. And old original Retvik? He’s spoken to both my flaming partner Retvik and little Lightbearer Retvik-”
“Wait, fucking really?” Psiksi suddenly exclaimed. “There’s three Retviks and they’ve all met?”
Arkay nodded. “Retvikalios calls himself Vick now, not Retvik. He runs a pub in the Ventra Expanse. I… I want to see him. But I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?” Psiksi asked. “Also, is it alright if I go into mental therapist mode? I don’t get to do it much any more but it’s so interesting doing it to you.”
“I… I guess… The problem is, I see each Retvik in a different way. My flaming boyfriend is obvious. Ret is like a little brother I want to protect but he’s fine and doesn’t need protecting. Old Retvik was… my father figure. I mean, I grew up by his side, from the age of 11 to 22. I don’t think he’d approve of what I’ve become.”
“You… don’t think this old Retvik would approve of the fact that you were a graceful death god despite forced into the role and, when you got out, in your time spent as a Decay Lord, you’ve only done good?”
“I didn’t protect him. Or his partner or his actual kid. I didn’t protect them. Was too busy tied to Kinisis’s bullshit and… well…” Arkay trailed off, then glanced at the monitors all around him. “I have a second chance to protect Retvik, Tenuk, Elksia and you. And I’ve done a good job protecting my third set of Dessaron. Nyssi and her team are fucking badasses. I couldn’t protect first Retvik’s kid, but I am going to protect Elksia’s kid if it fucking kills me.”
Psiksi thought for a moment, then shrugged. “That’s awfully kind of you. But don’t make it a promise or anything. Like, Retvik already offered to be Elksia’s family guardian, Tenuk’s already protecting Elksia and his unhatched kid with his life and Elksia’s the mum, she’s automatically doing that. And, of course, I’m gonna protect it too… Hang on, you included me in that list.”
“Of course. You’re one of the Dessaron. Kayel isn’t the new-universe me or the new-universe Elkay, he’s the new-universe you…” Arkay paused some more. “I’m sorry about Kass, by the way. I’m sorry about everyone.”
“That wasn’t your fault though. That was Epani’s fault or Kinisis’s fault or whatever. And…” Psiksi lowered his voice. “Alright… don’t tell anyone and definitely don’t tell Eksi, but… you met of all the Teekays? Well… me and Telecharm… We… we kinda hit it off a little bit. I’ve been calling him Teacake, he’s been calling me Chilly. He wants to move here to Savepoint and work remotely so he can be with me. And… I… I kinda want kids too. Like, not for a few year-strings at least, I’m only just thirty, but… I kinda want what Elksia has… Please don’t tell anyone.”
Arkay smiled, then patted Psiksi on the head. “I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry. But you might want to have a word with Vikalos at some point and let him know, so he can set up a room for Telecharm. You deserve your happiness.”
“So do you.”
“We both do. And… we’re slowly finding it…” Arkay sighed, then gave Psiksi a hug. “Thank you.”
“Thank you too. You gonna take a break now? Thasssalin’s outside, waiting to take over.”
“Yeah, sure. Might as well. You want to get some ice cream?”
Psiksi grinned. “Always.”