“Hey, angel!” Teekay beamed as he brought in several bottles of drink, several sheets of paper and a tape measure. He had just finished his secretarial shift at the Purification Centre, which was what the Thantir were currently calling the work areas of their new base. The base itself was now called Savepoint, a name suggested by Phovos of all people. No one had thought of anything better that they could all agree on, and Kal, who had bought the island and built most of the base in the first place, absolutely loved the name. Teekay was quite chirpy, and his current duties were quite enjoyable. He basically managed communications, scheduled clients and made sure the right people dealt with the right patients. Teekay mostly split shifts with Tenuk and Kaytee, but occasionally Tah and Koh, the weaker members of Kal, would step in and help if things were very busy.
“Hi, dear…”
Elkay’s duties were a bit more varied. He mostly worked on security and occasionally also helped with both Kenic Spore removal and Corruption removal with his telekinesis and mimicked fire powers, but he spent an hour a day filling jugs with litres of his own blood. Because Elkay was an Amalgam Mimic, his blood was horribly toxic to Corruption, meaning it could be used on more sensitive places where burning Corruption out was more difficult. Elkay wasn’t alone in the bleeding though, Phovos would regularly join him in his blood-harvesting sessions, because her Life Goddess blood could heal pretty much everything. Right now, Elkay was on break, having filled four one-litre jugs up with his blood.
“You look like you need a drink!” Teekay smiled. He handed an orange bottle to Elkay before sitting down next to him. The mini-canteen wasn’t busy right now, currently the only other people present were Phovos and Elksia, and Phovos was mostly recovering the same way Elkay was. This canteen was completely free to members of the Thantir, but occasionally clients would wander over and use the vending machines if the reception was particularly busy or if they were just curious.
Elkay immediately opened the bottle of drink and downed it in one go. It was some sort of orange soda, a sugary one. Teekay eyed Elkay, then handed him another, but Elkay didn’t drink this one as quickly.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You just spent an hour literally bleeding. Anyway, have you solved your stupid problem with Retvik?”
Elkay nodded. “I did, yes. We both apologized to each other and agreed that our argument was stupid.”
“So you’re friends again?”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful!” Teekay went back to grinning. He slammed a sheet of paper in front of Elkay. “Because it turns out we kinda need Retvik so we can get married. Turns out, we can form a Deathven-approved partnership by simply filling out some forms with three witnesses present, but the forms must be certified by either a Deathven sector OR a Deathven-aligned Decay Lord sect leader! The latter means there’s no Overlord cuntbag required, so you shouldn’t have any problems. Buuuuut that means we have to get either Retvik or Litvir to certify our marriage, because they’re officially the leaders of the Thantir now.”
“They are?” Elkay asked. “When did that happen?”
“Apparently they confirmed and certified it with Galyn not long after we landed on the Shimmering Blade. I mean, they kinda had to because the Phantai almost immediately arrested Galyn and locked him in a glass box for a bit.”
“Huh… I suppose that makes sense. Galyn was out of commission for a while anyway. Stab wounds through the chest are, well, normally deadly…” Elkay trailed off. “Do we have a choice as to who does the certification or do both Retvik and Litvir have to do it?”
“Nah, we got a choice. I kinda assumed you wanted Retvik to do it though.”
Elkay shook his head. “Feels weird, having a family member approve of your marriage. I would rather Litvir do it. Plus, my knowledge of Skyavok weddings is spotty, but I thought normally a family member would walk the bride down the main path or something to get them married?”
Teekay frowned briefly. “Ah, yeah, kinda didn’t think about that, since you agreed to be the bride. You’re still fine with that, right?”
“Hah, yes!” Elkay nodded this time, smiling a little. “We have an in-joke to keep up. I am, as everyone says, your bitch, after all.”
Teekay smiled back and sipped his drink. “I’m so glad you don’t get insulted at that joke. Even if you’re technically a male-leaning Rethan. But Skyan gender roles are kinda reversed, what’s masculine to you is almost feminine to me anyway. I won’t make you wear bridal gear or anything though, just the wedding veil. You can wear Rethan partnership armour underneath that, if you want. Not that I know what that looks like.”
“I will be blunt, I went to a grand total of two Rethan weddings, and one of them was Retvik’s wedding, because he invited every General who fought alongside him in the Whenvern War. When I became High General, I was not invited to these things because it was considered improper. But in Rethan weddings, it is not bride and groom but two poten-partners becoming true partners, so they wear the same-coloured armour. Generally white with a pink and gold trim.”
Teekay thought to himself. “Uh, that was… before I was born…”
Elkay blinked. “By the Light, you are correct. Granted, they got married somewhat young, at the age of 27 but… Ugh, times like this, I feel bad. You are less than half my age.”
“We’re both technically immortal now. It’s fine.”
“Still, it bothers me.”
Teekay finished off his drink and leaned across the table. He pointed at Elksia, who was eating her favourite thing, a massive bowl of meatballs. “Babe, Elksia there is, what, 75 years old? She’s dating Tenuk and they’re pretty damn serious about things. Tenuk is, like, definitely over 1000 years old. But you want weirder? Retvik and Litvir both want to, I dunno, do SOMETHING with Arkay. And Arkay is billions of years old. And don’t get me started on the gay armoured bear and his two much younger proto-Rethavok boyfriends.”
“Galyn and Itaviir are-”
“They totally are like early failed Rethans. But they’re also happy. Yes, I get it, it’s weird that our ages are a bit funny, but I have physically been an adult since I was five years old, and we’re both technically just below middle-aged for our respective races. But, more importantly, we’re both consenting adults who love each other dearly. And we’re finally going to tie the knot, right?”
Elkay sighed, then nodded. “We are, finally. I am sorry that it has taken so long for me to commit.”
Teekay tutted. “Babe, the universe died, twice. Kinisis wouldn’t let us get married, and we had to become Decay Lords before we could get married now. None of that is your fault!” Teekay paused for a moment, then altered the subject. “Anyway, you’re happy with Litvir certifying our marriage, yes?”
“I am. That way, Retvik can, uh, walk me down the aisle, or whatever you call it.”
“And who do you want as witnesses? We gotta pick three people.”
Elkay shrugged. “I think you should pick, since I chose who will be certifying the marriage.”
“I don’t really care, as long as I can have Eksi and Kaytee as my groomsmaids. We also need a band-bearer, to give us our partnership necklaces. Litvir would be the one to put them on us since he’ll be certifying things, but someone still needs to old them and give them to Litvir to give to us.”
“That is fine by me…” Elkay thought to himself. “Is it bad that I want to pick both Phovos and Akah as witnesses, because I want to see Phovos in a pretty dress, and I have no idea what a Lanex in fancy clothes looks like?”
“Hahaha, no, that’s a pretty good reason for both of them. What about the third witness? I don’t want to pick one of the big guys without including the other two. Same with Kal.”
“The only logical choice is Tenuk. Tahvra, bless his heart, does not understand weddings.”
Teekay briefly frowned, then went back to smiling. “That’s fine by me. Tenuk can be an utter prick at times, but he can’t help it, he’s a Kronospast. It’s literally in his DNA to be an asshole. So, we’ll have Litvir certify us, Phovos, Akah and Tenuk as witnesses and Eksi and Kaytee as groomsmaids? Sound good to you?”
“Sounds perfect to me.”
“Awesome!” Teekay leaped out of his seat, grabbing his tape measure in the process. “Anyway, time to measure you up for your wedding veil! Gotta make sure I get it the right length!”
Elkay couldn’t help but grin at Teekay’s excitement. “Of course, my dear.”