Retvik smiled as he opened the door for his guests. He had already had a little too much to drink and was noticeably tipsy. But he wasn’t the first to exclaim with glee as the heavy iron door opened up.
“ARKAY! YOU CAME!” Gath shouted, towering over the little, yellow creature. He grabbed Arkay and lifted him up off the ground, hugging him tightly. “Retvik and I have not seen you in aaaaages!”
With a grin, Retvik joined in on the hug, wrapping his arms around both Gath and Arkay.
“Wow, you two are merry today…” Arkay felt a little uncertain. “Is everything okay? Also this is a weird venue.”
A loud applause exploded above them. Retvik and Gath let go of Arkay, both still smiling.
“Elksia is having a whole family reunion thing. They rented out the whole building. Elksia said we could use this small hall if we wished!” Retvik explained, hinting for Arkay and his friend to follow them inside. “We have all the basics here. A small buffet of food, large piles of cushions to sit on and some party games that Psiksi has gracefully set up for us!”
Inside, everyone seemed to be having fun. Psiksi and his three siblings were all playing some sort of video game together while several beings snuggled in the piles of cushions and a few more sat at a makeshift bar, sipping drinks. Weirdly, Elksia wasn’t present.
“She is upstairs with her family!” Gath explained further, before wobbling and falling into a pile of cushions, scaring the life out of the two Skyans present. On further inspection though, only one of them was a Skyavok.
“And I thought I had had a lot to drink!” Elkay beamed, holding his glass up cheerfully. “Hello, Arkay, who is your friend?”
The silver and blue Skyan looked around nervously. Arkay looked around too, but simply shrugged.
“This is my brother, Kairos.”
“As in, Kairos, the Dragon God of Time?” a familiar voice shouted from the bar. A stool tipped over as Tenuk stomped over towards the Skyan, holding a half-empty can of mead somewhat threateningly. “The fucking fucktard who just ruins everything Spast? And you’re HERE?”
“He’s my plus one!” Arkay smiled, trying to ease the tension in more ways than one. Tenuk wasn’t aware of it, but Arkay was subtly making the alcohol in Tenuk’s body decay faster, somewhat sobering him up. “Kairos and I have been talking for a long time and we’ve straightened things out over the years. He’s fine.”
Kairos bowed his head slightly. “I apologise for the mess I caused during our little war. I hope we can get over that.”
Tenuk blinked. “Did… did anyone else just hear that? The Almighty Whenvern? Apologising?”
“Yes, you heard correctly…” Kairos sighed. “Right now though, I just wish to, well, relax.”
Retvik put a heavy arm around Kairos. “That is all very nice and all that, but why are you not a dragon?”
“Sometimes I wish to see things from my little brother’s point of view. It helps to ground a being as powerful as myself.”
“And why are you here in front of half the folks that defeated you?” Tenuk asked.
Kairos sighed. “Because Arkay asked me to come…” The Whenvern turned to Arkay, who was looking around the room. He seemed confused.
“Hey, Retvik?” Arkay suddenly asked, changing the subject.
“Yes, kiddo?”
“Have you guys been sleeping here lately?”
Retvik grinned. “Oh yes. It turns out, Vrekan family reunions tend to last… a week or so. So rather than return back home, we have been camping here. With the food buffet.”
“So you’re basically camping indoors with free food?”
“Yes! It is awesome, is it not?”
Gath and Tenuk both nodded in agreement.
Convinced, Arkay grabbed Kairos and dragged him over to the bar. “Well we’re definitely staying then!”