The two Retha slept peacefully in bed, sharing a large, woolly blanket which draped not only across them, but across the floor as well. They slept closely, their heavily armoured bodies snuggled together, seemingly not caring for the sharper parts of their organic, naturally-growing armour plating, nor their heavy claws. The rest of the cottage, a small two-storey building surrounded by fields of various root vegetables, was somewhat still. The peace seemed like it wouldn’t end.
That was, until something moved, startling Retvik, the slightly smaller of the two giant beings. He’d been sleeping comfortably in his bed, his beloved partner by his side. The rain outside had finally stopped, and the sun was slowly rising. Glancing at his wristband, he realised it was only six in the morning. Thankfully it was the weekend, there was no reason to be up so early. Retvik checked that Gath was okay, then turned over, facing away from the dark curtains and the sunlight trying to sneak in.
Another small movement. Was something knocking at the door?
Gath growled, he’d heard it too. He’d had a busy day yesterday too and Retvik wanted him to rest. Swinging his legs carefully out of the bed then fixing the blanket behind him, the red and gold Rethan decided to see what the scoundrel knocking at his partner’s front door wanted. His bare but clawed feet clanged on the floor as he picked up the first fabric wrap he could find and tied it around his bare stomach. Navy blue with purple stripes, it was clearly Gath’s, not his. There was no reason to put on the rest of his armour.
The sun’s rays couldn’t penetrate the stairs, but they’d found their way into the downstairs living space, scattering on the ashes of the fire from the previous night. He paused to put the bowls from last night’s dinner in the sink, before entering the hallway to the front door. Something was knocking on it. Which was weird because most beings just pressed the doorbell, a small little pedal on the ground by the doormat. Saved trying to knock on the door if one’s hands were full.
Retvik sighed, then stomped over, peering through the peep hole. Straight ahead, he could see nothing. It wasn’t until he looked down that he realised who exactly was knocking.
A voice upstairs distracted him. “Who in the name of the light is knocking at this time of day?”
“Thropes,” Retvik replied. “A couple of little Thropes. I will see what they want, then send them away.” Gath stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, snarling. Retvik smiled briefly, before opening the door. The two Thropes, standard-looking human beings wearing some sort of cured animal skin and plastic armour, stared back at him. One of them was fair, with blond head hair, glasses over his eyes, shorter, rounder, carrying a map and an electronic device. The other was tall and skinny, the hair slowly fading from his head, wearing more leather, his long fingers carrying a larger electronic device. They were both armed with small pistols in their belts, but the taller one carried a broadsword, while the smaller one carried two small blades.
“I told you we had the wrong house!” the taller one was angry. “I apologise, we were hoping to speak to a Gath Choriou?”
“The name is Tsoriou, with a ts sound rather than the harsher ch sound,” Retvik blurted, then immediately regretted it. “What do you want, and do you little Thropes know what the current time is?”
The smaller one glanced at its watch. “Um… 8am?” It suddenly panicked and turned to the taller one. “Oh no, we forgot to put our watches back when we arrived from Kolasi… Wait, are you Gath Tsoriou?”
“NO!” a voice bellowed from behind Retvik. He turned around and threw a stern look at Gath, who was fumbling around with the old iron kettle, trying to heat up some water to make a warm drink. A small smile slipped by, another little regret. Retvik turned back to the Thropes. They seemed somewhat threatened by Gath’s outburst. He wanted to close the door on their faces for upsetting his partner, but they had clearly travelled a long way. If their roles had been reversed, the Thropes probably would have slammed the door in his face, and understandably so. As a Rethan, Retvik felt compelled to prove he was a better being than them.
“Little Thropes, you do have the right house, but it is currently 6am. I am Retvik Rethianos, my partner Gath is inside. Your arrival has surprised us somewhat.”
The taller one stepped back briefly, then turned to its friend. “Steve, I owe you an apology.” He turned back to Retvik. “Hello, my name is Don, and this is my co-worker and companion, Steve. We are currently compiling works on many of your Maza races, in order to explain to our fellow humans that, although many of you are designed to be lethal predators, you are peaceful beings deep do- Steve, what is it?”
Steve, the smaller Thrope, was nudging Don in the side. Retvik seemed interested in both their antics.
“Do you know who that is?” Steve kept on whispering.
“What?”
“Retvik Rethianos. He’s one of the four real Dessaron!”
“I thought they…”
Retvik decided that it was time for him to step in. “You are at the right place. Gath is my partner. We have been married for a long time. And yes, I am one of the Dessaron. Please, we have been standing at the door for long enough, come inside.” Just as he spoke, Gath appeared behind him, peering around the corner from the hallway.
“WAIT. I know you two. You called the other day, you were supposed to be meeting with Kass before me!” Gath’s eyes flared up. “You want us to spill all our little secrets and…”
“Gath, you are overreacting, my dear.”
“I am not.”
“Are you going to kick these tired Thropes out?”
“No. But today was supposed to be our day off. They can come in, but not for long.” Gath finally relented and disappeared back into the living area. Retvik sighed then requested that the two thropes leave their weapons and shoes in the hallway.
“Why?”
“We are at home, there is no need for weaponry here,” the Retha replied, leading them both into the living room. Gath was already sat down, waiting impatiently for the kettle to boil. The two thropes sat in the spare armchairs, while Retvik hurried into the kitchen. “What do you all want to drink?”
“Soloka please, dear.”
“Um, just water for us please.”
Retvik prepared the drinks, while Gath stared Steve and Don down, his eyes still somewhat bloodshot from having just woken up. As his partner came in and handed everyone their drinks, he finally spoke.
“So you thropes wish to learn about us?” Gath took a long sip from his drink, still eyeing the thropes. Don decided to eye him back, while Steve asked what the drink was. “Aggelad milk, Tharen honey and cocoa. You thropes have a sweet tooth, I think you would like it.”
Retvik snorted. “Gath, please, call them by their names.”
“Sorry, Ret. I am just tired and want to go back to bed.” He turned back to the thropes. “You see, I was out training all day yesterday, I also had a Dessaron Arena match. Retvik was out in the middle of the desert killing Zonta. Today was supposed to be our day of recuperation!”
“And we will get our rest. Now, little ones, what do you wish to know?”
Don and Steve glanced at one another. While Steve rummaged through his backpack for his voice recorder and notepad, Don was more organized and had a list at hand.
“Well, we have several things we’d like to ask. I wanted to ask about Rethan participation in the Dessaron Battle Arena, but as you two are a couple, we’d like to ask you some things about that.”
Gath snarled, but Retvik seemed amused.
“That sounds reasonable. Would we be able to ask you some questions afterwards?”
Steve nodded, but Don shook his head, then quickly changed his mind and nodded too. Steve decided to ask the first question, as he turned on his recording device.
“So, um, how long have you two been together?”
“Twenty five years.”
“Twenty six in February.”
Don noted down the answers on a notepad. Steve continued.
“Would you say your relationship is a normal one?”
Gath shrugged, Retvik shook his head, ashamed. “It would have been normal if I had not been dragged away for twelve years. We got married at the normal age, we tried having children at the average age. We, like many Retha, are still together after twenty years…”
While Retvik looked upset, Gath put an arm around his shoulder. “Nonetheless, we are both very happy. Retvik has been making up for lost time. We are both off-duty generals, we have some free time on our hands.”
The thrope’s pen scribbled away. “Do you live together? Do you have children?”
“Sometimes. I visit Gath regularly and often stay the night, but I have my own home in the Storage district of Palaestra. Our jobs send us on many varied journeys. As for children, that is a delicate subject.”
“Why?”
“Retvik and I both tried to have children, not long after we first got together. All our eggs died.”
The scribbling paused. Don looked up and apologized. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It is fine…” Retvik took a sip from his drink. “Twenty four years ago almost. We are over our loss.”
“Have you tried again since?” Steve asked.
“No. We have… lacked the desire…” Gath admitted. “With our duties, with Retvik having been away for so long and our desire to raise a child ourselves, it has been impractical.” He finished his drink, then wandered into the kitchen to make himself another, pausing only to briefly nuzzle Retvik and take his drink too.
Don continued to write something down, then asked another question. “Do you two procreate often?”
“That is a rather personal question!” Gath exclaimed from the kitchen. “And the suddeness of that question aside, our answer would be skewed because of Retvik’s disappearance.”
“Did that affect you much?” Don ignored Gath’s exclamations and continued his line of questions.
“And that is a rather stupid question!” Retvik retorted, climbing to his feet, the Retha towering over the two thropes. “Of course my time spent two thousand years in the past fighting a war that could have altered the very fabric of reality and caused endless paradoxes affected our relationship! But if I had not fought in that war, we would not even be having this conversation right now! Talk about damn thrope ignorance!”
Retvik calmed down and collapsed back on the sofa, regretting almost all of the actions he had taken that day. Everyone else remained silent, while Don continued jotting things down, unphased by Retvik’s anger. Eventually, he put his pen down and looked around the room.
“This is why we’re doing this. Us humans don’t get you other races. We have no idea about this war in the past. We had no idea that Retha lay eggs or drink hot chocolate.” Don was calm in his explanation. “But we should have come at a better time. You’re both clearly tired, and your kind are aggressive when you’re tired.”
Steve nodded. “Yeah, what he said.”
Gath exited the kitchen, carrying two mugs of soloka, handing one of them to Retvik, apologizing as he did so. “You have just caught us at a bad time. We are sorry for taking our frustrations out on you. How about we make arrangements for… a better time?”
The two thropes shrugged.
“Sure, that sounds alright to us, when and where?” Don asked.
Gath checked a calendar hanging on the wall, with crude scribblings all over it. Retvik checked the calendar too, then frowned.
“I am not available until next Sunday…”
“We’re here all month!” Steve chirped.
Don started writing furiously on a piece of paper, then tore it off and shoved it into Retvik’s claws, before getting up and dragging Steve with him. “This is our number. Call us when you want to meet up. Thanks for letting us ask you some questions, we look forward to learning more about you.”
The two thropes swiftly left the house, only pausing to put on their shoes and make sure they picked up their weaponry. As quickly as they’d arrived, they’d disappeared.
Retvik stood in the hallway, still holding his mug of steaming soloka, staring at the door and trying to work out what just happened. Gath wandered in and placed a heavy hand on his partner’s shoulder, nuzzling his cheek. In his other hand, he was holding a knife.
“I believe I may have scared them. All I was doing was cutting some bloodcake for us to share!”
“Oh well…” Retvik smiled as he nuzzled Gath back. “At least we have the place to ourselves once more…”