“Rethais, dear, can you help me with something?”
Lysar looked rather flustered and stressed out as she stood in the kitchen area, her shopping still polluting the cooking area, rather than put away in the cupboards.
“What is it, dear?” Rethais asked as he took off his foot coverings and hung up his cloak. “Are you alright?”
“Er… no…” Lysar stuttered. “There is… a large snake in our sleeping quarters.”
“A snake?” Rethais blinked. He made his way over to a small cupboard and grabbed a bucket. But as he did so, Lysar stopped him.
“It is a very big snake.”
“How… big?” Rethais asked.
“Very, very big.”
With a worried look on his face, Rethais put the bucket back, then opened the cupboard next to it, where he kept his gunstaff. Rethais glanced at Lysar, then made his way upstairs, where the bedrooms were.
The first three rooms, the sleeping quarters for Rethais’s kids, were all empty, if a little bit messy. But the third room seemed to have something resting against it. Something very large and heavy. The master bedroom was the only room left, and as Rethais got closer, he spotted the tip of a very large, scaly tail.
“See what I mean!” Lysar exclaimed from back downstairs. “It is a giant snake!”
Rethais could tell. However, as he pulled away the long curtain in the doorway, Rethais quickly realized what was going on.
“Allbirther Yisini, what are you doing in my sleeping quarters? You do know that I have an office, yes?”
“You were not at your office today, and I didn’t want to wait…” Yisini yawned, flipping herself over so she could see Rethais.
Before Rethais could say anything, he could hear stomping up the stairs behind him. Lysar suddenly burst in, looking incredibly pissed off.
“So you nearly gave me a fucking heart attack because you wanted to see my partner?”
The Allbirther shrugged. “He is the leader of your entire species, your partner is normally available.”
“I was having a meeting with the Vrekan King, Allbirther. You have my details, you could have just organized an appointment with me…” Rethais sighed, lowering his gunstaff. “And I would appreciate you not scaring my partner.”
Yisini shrugged some more. “While I could have waited, I wanted to speak to you in person. After all, I have made a rather large discovery.” The Allbirther straightened herself out. “I do apologise for falling asleep though. I’ve been a very busy bee lately, working on immortality and the like. I thought you would like to know first.”
Lysar stared at Rethais. “What is going on between you too? Is there something you are not telling me?”
“No, of course not,” Rethais frowned. “Yisini has been busy helping everyone out, ourselves included.”
“I’ve worked out how to double your life spans!” Yisini blatantly interrupted, not caring at all how both Rethais and Lysar were feeling. “While it’s not immortality, double your age isn’t too bad, right?”
“I, er, um, what?” Lysar was confused now, and still a bit angry.
“I can double your life spans. Well, for you Rethavok, it’s not quite. But it’ll get you, the average Rethavok, about 100 extra years of life, and the next generation will immediately age more slowly. For most of the other races, we’re looking at doubling or, in one case, TRIPLING life spans!”
Rethais sighed. “I assume you are-”
“No, I definitely did it! I have tested and re-tested and everything!”
“So why are you taking a nap in my bedroom?” Rethais asked.
Yisini smiled wearily. “I haven’t slept properly for a month. But I got so excited, I had to tell someone. Which is why I am telling you. The thing is, there’s one teeny tiny problem with this stuff…”
Rethais and Lysar eyed each other cautiously.
“What is the problem?” Rethais finally asked.
“You have to inject it, like a vaccine.”
“How is that a problem?” Lysar tutted. “Us Rethans have no problem with needles or vaccinations.”
“Your kind may not have a problem, but I guarantee that some idiot from one of the other races will be anti-vaccinations…” Yisini’s tone lowered dramatically. “The reason I am here is because I want to offer the vaccines to you and your fellow leaders first. And have the footage of you doing this being showed en-masse.”
Rethais sighed and shook his head. “You need my help to do this, then.”
“Yep!” Yisini started smiling again. “Anyway, dearies, I’ll see you around!”
In an instant, the Allbirther vanished, leaving the two Rethans in stunned silence.
“I hate her…” Lysar finally muttered.
“Yes, me too…” Rethais growled. “Me too…”